Into the fire
by mirel
Summary: Riza is going to visit Winry and Ed in Resembool, but never gets there. Everybody thinks she is dead, but Roy refuses to believe. He has decided to find her alive. Royai, of course! Takes place after manga/brotherhood.
1. The promise

I do not own anything in regards Fullmetal Alchemist. I even borrowed the name of the story from a song by Thirteen senses. :D First two chapters are kind of prequel, then the story really starts. Hope you like it, read and review! And thank you yourlifeinwords for beta reading!

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><p>He had been given his sight back. After weeks of darkness, there was finally light. Riza would always remember the look Roy gave to her, when he finally saw something. It was like he had seen her for the first time. Riza responded with a smile, she was so happy for him. She could drown in those dark eyes. But finally Roy looked away, and happiness in his eyes was replaced with sadness. Her smile faded too.<p>

She knew what he was thinking about. After all they had been through, there was still a wall between them. She had saved his life so many times, and he had saved her. But she knew that nothing was going to change, not really. He loved her, she knew that. And she loved him like nothing else in the world. "I can not lose you", Mustang had said, after Riza had stopped him from killing Envy. They needed each other. And because of that, they wouldn't say anything about how they really felt. If they would do what they wanted to, it would ruin everything. They would be separated; she would be fired from the military and he would never be the Fuhrer. She needed to keep him safe. He needed her to fulfill his dreams.

So he gave her one look and she gave him one smile. That was everything they could give to each other. Roy turned to look at everyone else. He thanked doctor Marcoh, and everyone congratulated him. Havoc, Breda, Falman and Fuery were all there to see the miracle. Havoc had got his legs back the day before. There was a lot of work to be done before he could walk like before, but it was only a question of time. They spoke about throwing a party for Mustang. "You have to test your eyes on pretty girls", said Havoc smiling. "And maybe I will find a new girlfriend too, now that I have my legs back!" All the boys laughed. Nothing had changed. She moved into the background. That was her place, watching his back. It has always been her place, and would always be.

But so much had happened that Roy couldn't just ignore everything. When he had finally saw something else than black, he had started to search her face without even realizing it. And there she was with her blond hair hanging free, covering nearly entirely the bandage in her neck. She was so beautiful. When she noticed that he was looking at her, she smiled like he had never seen her smile. For one moment there was no one else. Then he realized what he was doing. He could never have her. So he looked away and tried to ignore the urge to tell her everything. For a while, he managed to do that. But when he was home that night, alone in his small apartment, he just couldn't do it anymore. He capped his coat and ran out of the door.

That night he appeared in her front door. Riza had been allowed to go home from the hospital a couple of days earlier. But she had lost a lot of blood, and was still feeling weak and sleepy. So she had gone to bed early that night. She woke up when Black Hayate started to bark. She went to the door and couldn't believe her eyes; there he was, standing in the rain.

"Colonel! What are you doing here?" Riza said, looking perplexed to see him there. Roy was breathing hard, like he had run for a long time. He just stared at her, like he wanted to say something, but couldn't. "Did something happened?" she asked, wondering what was wrong. Roy's breathing slowed a little. He looked a little desperate and seemed to lose his ability to speak. Riza was starting to get a little scared. "You are all wet. Come in, let's talk", she said, practically pulling him inside.

He stood in her hallway, dripping water on the floor. She closed the door. "Now tell me what is wrong? You're worrying me", she said. Finally he took a deep breath and spoke with speed, like he was afraid that time was running out.

"I can't pretend anymore. Not after everything that has happened. Not after I almost lost you..." He said, and he didn't take his eyes off her. Riza was stunned. If she had guessed what he was going to say, it definitely wasn't this.

"What do you mean?" In her heart she knew what he meant. She just didn't want to get disappointed if it wasn't what she thought it was. And she also knew that this was wrong. He looked at her, begging with his eyes for her to understand.

"When I saw you there, lying in the pool of blood, I was so scared... The thought that you could have died haunts me. I just can't live without you. I need you. When I saw you after all the darkness, I felt like I could survive from anything. And I felt a desperate need to tell you how important you are to me. I know I can't have you, but still... I love you like nothing else", he said. He looked deep into her eyes. He needed her to understand. Slowly, Riza's stunned face turned into a smile. She wanted to tell him exactly the same, but instead she acted.

She walked closer and carefully placed her lips against his. It was soft at first, but soon became more passionate. He put his arms around her and continued to kiss her. She finally broke the kiss and muttered, "We shouldn't be doing this." His arms were still around her. "I know", he said, but didn't let go. She knew they should have stopped, but she couldn't resist those dark eyes, not when she saw such a desire in them. She kissed him again and he pulled her closer, never wanting to let go.

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><p>The next morning they woke up late. Roy had his arms around her, keeping her close. He hadn't let her out of his arms all night. They had never slept well after Ishval, but this night had been different. It was like a dream, a moment from someone else's life, not theirs. Riza sighed. She would have wanted to wake up like this every morning, but she knew this was going to be the only time. They couldn't risk their careers like this again. It had been foolish to give in to their desires, but they couldn't resist it anymore. Was it too much to ask to have just one night? One night to keep them going, to fix their scars.<p>

He was awake too, but they both didn't say anything. Neither wanted to be the one to break the bubble. But eventually Roy had to say something. "You know... Maybe someday, when I become the Fuhrer, and Amestris is a democracy, this could be the way we wake up every day. You could resign from the military and we could get married and maybe even have a family..." he said, dreaming of all that. He wanted her to know this wasn't just a one night stand. She meant so much more than that.

She smiled at the idea. "Yeah. Maybe then you wouldn't need me to watch your back and I could really resign..." She said. But until that day she knew they had to keep on going just like they didn't have any feelings towards each other. He needed her to get to the top; he needed her to watch her back. And she couldn't breathe easily if she couldn't keep an eye on him. But after he had reached his goal, yeah, she might be able to rely on others to keep him save. Maybe then she might be allowed to have some happiness herself. "It's a deal then", he said, smiling. He kissed her neck carefully, where there was still a bandage where the scar was. Then, he pulled her a little closer and they held each other for one moment more, before they had to let go.

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><p>The next day, they acted like nothing had happened. That night they were celebrating Mustang's new eyes, as well as Havoc's new legs. She though that their old team guessed that something had changed between their Colonel and first lieutenant, but said nothing. They knew how things were, and that there was nothing they could do. For the next few years, Riza cherished the memory of that one night, and she knew Roy did too. But there was a lot of work to be done before the promise they had made could be fulfilled.<p> 


	2. Almost

Thank you for lovely reviews! And again thank you for yourliveinwords for beta reading, I wouldn't survive without you!

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><p>It had been three years since the promised day. Grumman was still the Fuhrer, but Roy had kept on climbing the stairs and was now a general. Grumman had even been hinting that he might retire soon, and that he wanted Mustang to continue as the Fuhrer after him. He wasn't really old, and he could have been Fuhrer for a lot longer. But for some reason, he wanted to retire. He just kept saying that he wanted to see his granddaughter's wedding and see her children grow. Roy had no idea what he meant by that, or why his career would stop him from doing that. But Grumman just smiled and laughed.<p>

But Roy didn't really mind. He would finally become the Fuhrer. After all these years, they were almost there. They had been professional about their relationship ever since that one night. It had been hard to pretend everything was like it had always been, but somehow they had managed. Luckily there had been a lot of work. But soon, very soon, they could stop all that.

The last three years, Riza and Roy had been in Ishval. Rebuilding Ishval had not been easy. There had even been two murder attempts on Roy in the first year. Riza had noticed them early enough to stop them before anything had happened, but it still scared her. Every day she had been afraid that there would be another attempt. She had been so tired for focusing so hard every day. Even at night she couldn't sleep because of the nightmares she had of Roy dying in her hands.

He, on the other hand, was doing so much work that he almost never slept. Roy didn't seem to mind the assassination attempts; he just said that he might even deserve it. The scars of the war would take time to heal. Some of them might never heal. Riza wanted to hug Roy and comfort him, but instead she said nothing. Three years went by, as they fought to survive every day. Somehow they managed to do it.

Finally, things had started to get better, and they were able to leave the work in Ishval for others. Now, they were back in Central, finishing up paperwork and making reports of the process. They were both starting to hope. She had even started to grow her hair out again. She had cut it short before going to Ishval because it was more practical that way. And it also made it easier to forget that one night that Roy had ran his hands in her long hair. Roy on the other hand, started to stop in front of jewelry shops, looking at the rings. But he never went inside. Just a little longer...

But things weren't that easy. They never were for the pair of them. It was a month before Grumman was going to retire and Roy was going to be announced as Fuhrer. Grumman and Roy worked together; they were starting the process of changing the power. Everybody noticed that Roy and Riza seemed to be happier. It raised a lot of discussion, particularly because none of them had ever seen Riza smiling, at least not that much. Her cold shell had started to crack.

But only their old team seemed to understand what was happening. Havoc, Fuery and Breda were still working under Mustang, even though Falman had moved to the North. They knew that the pair had always been close, and now they seemed to finally let it be more visible to others too. They had already started to bet when they were going to announce it officially.

Then things started to go wrong. Riza got a message from Winry and Ed, to come and visit them. Ed had just returned from a long trip from the west, and Riza knew they were planning a wedding. Winry and Riza had become good friends after the promised day. Roy was a little insulted that he hadn't been invited, but on the other hand he didn't even have the time to come. And as Riza pointed out: "There's probably a lot of wedding talk, which would only bore you." So they agreed she would take a little time off and go for a visit.

Before she left, she made Havoc, Fuery and Breda to swear to keep an eye on Mustang. The boys agreed with a laugh, promising to do their best to control Mustang and force him to do his paperwork. Mustang smiled and promised to behave well. Riza waved and then she was out the door. Roy smiled one last time and returned to his paperwork.

She never reached her destination.


	3. News

Thank you for lovely reviews, you're too good for me! :) And once again thank you for yourlifeinwords for beta reading!

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><p>It was odd to work without her. Riza always made sure everything was done on time and reminded him of important meetings. She hadn't been gone even a day yet, and still they were starting to fall behind the schedule. She had left early in the morning, just passing to say goodbye to everyone before leaving. She should be in Resembool by now, he thought, looking at his watch. It was already a six a clock, time to finish up. They probably would have stopped earlier if she would have been there.<p>

Roy sighed. He missed her already. It was hard to act like he didn't care about her as much as he did. His eyes had started to linger on her more than was appropriate. Especially now that he would soon be able to do what he once promised. She was almost his. He had even started to wait for the working hours which he could be with her. Stupid really, he hated the office work. But when Riza was there, it somehow didn't seem so bad.

"I think it's time to go home! We can continue the work tomorrow," Roy finally said, noticing that his men were as tired as he was, and hadn't really gotten anything done. "Yes,sir!" Breda and Havoc shouted together, and then their professionalism turned to smiles. They both were happy to finally get home.

It was then that Roy realized that one of his men was missing. "Where's Fuery?" he asked from Breda, who was finishing his last paper before leaving. "Fuery went to have coffee about an hour a go, but he hasn't been back after that, sir," Breda said. That was odd, Roy thought. It wasn't at all like Fuery: he was always on time.

But before he had time to say anything, the office doors opened and there he was. Fuery was breathing heavily, like he had run all the way from cafeteria, and his eyes were looking frightened. Roy could almost swear he was on the edge of tears. Something bad had happened. "What's wrong?" Roy asked worriedly.

Fuery took a deep breath before he started to talk. He tried to speak officially, but his voice was trembling. "There has been a train accident, sir! It seems there have been many casualties, some say forty. One of the wagons was completely destroyed in the accident. It was transporting some dangerous chemicals, which exploded in the accident..."

Roy could feel the fear hit his stomach. There was something even worse coming, he could feel it. Of course it was big news when something like that happened, but it didn't explain why Fuery was so upset. There was something else too. Then the realization hit him.

Riza had taken a train to Resembool. No, surely it couldn't be the same. It couldn't. He could sense the thickness in the air. They all were afraid of the worst. "Which train it was Fuery? Which train?" he shouted, not even realizing he had raised his voice. Fuery seemed to want vanish in the air. He lowered his eyes, and Roy saw a tear rolling out of his eye. "It's the same Hawkeye was in. It seems... It seems she was in the wagon that was completely destroyed," he said quietly.

Roy could hear how the papers in Havoc's hands fell to the ground. He saw how Breda sank in his chair and buried his head to his hands. Fuery didn't raise his gaze. Roy just stared at everyone. He couldn't move. No, there was some misunderstanding. This couldn't be right. Not Riza. Not now. "Are you sure Fuery?" he asked, hoping this was some cruel joke. Fuery nodded.

"No," Roy said, and refused to believe his words. "There is some misunderstanding. Who told you this? I want to see him right now!" Roy took steps towards Fuery, until he was standing just inches away from him. "It was Lieutenant Reece. He works under the Fuhrer," Fuery said as his eyes met Mustang's. He seemed scared of him, but Mustang didn't care. He had heard what he wanted, and stormed out of the office. Three devastated men looked as he went, confused about how to act.

Roy ran all the way to the Grumman's office. He ran past many people, some said greetings, but Roy didn't register. Many looked after him, confused of what had caused such haste. But he didn't care: he just needed to talk to Reece. He needed to know the truth. He needed to know Riza was okay, because she had to be okay. She was his everything. It couldn't end like this, just couldn't.

When he finally got to the office, he saw a man talking to the Fuhrer's secretary. He instantly spotted the man as Lieutenant Reece. "Is it true? Where did you get the information?" he said to the perplexed lieutenant, who didn't really seem to understand what was going on. "Excuse me sir, I don't quite follow what you mean?" he muttered, wondering what has caused General Mustang to yell at him. "How can you say she is dead? She just can't..." he shouted, but the power of his voice seemed to fade towards the end. He could feel the stupid tears forming in his eyes. He wouldn't cry. There was no reason to. She was fine; they just didn't know how strong she was. She had survived, like she always had.

"General Mustang, please stop yelling at my people. Come in, we need to talk," said voice behind him, and Roy saw the Fuhrer Grumman standing in front of his office door. Normally Roy would have apologized for his outbreak, but today he didn't really care. He just needed to know Riza was safe. He walked into his office and sat down to the chair Grumman had pointed out. Grumman closed the doors and asked his staff to take a break.

"I know you're sad because of what has happened, but you can't act like that. You're going to be the Fuhrer, you know..." Grumman said giving Mustang a sad smile. "This is a great lost to us all," he continued and looked thoughtful. Roy just stared at him as Grumman sat down opposite to Roy. Why was the man talking about lost? There was nothing lost yet.

Grumman waited Roy to say something, but he didn't say anything. After a moment of silent Grumman sighed, and continued, "I know I never told you or Hawkeye, but Riza was my granddaughter. I thought I had time to tell that later. But now she will never know." Roy barely registered what Grumman had said. Grumman had made a great revelation, but all Roy could hear was how he talked like she was already dead. And he couldn't take it anymore.

"Why are you speaking like that? Like she is dead..." he said, carefully, like he was afraid of the answer Grumman would give. "Because she is. Nobody survived from her wagon. And there is no doubt that she was in there. Her luggage was found from the wagon, or at least what was left... I'm sorry Mustang, but we can't deny the truth," Grumman said slowly, wanting Mustang to understand. But he could see from the look Roy gave to him, that he wasn't ready to believe.

"Where had it happened?" Roy asked, demanding to know. He had stood up from his chair, and looked like he was leaving. "Ten miles before Resembool," Grumman said, shaking his head in disbelieve. Why was he so stubborn? "Thank you, sir," Roy said, and then he was out of the door. Grumman stayed in his office, and didn't try to stop Mustang. In a way he understood him, and Grumman knew Roy needed time to understand.

Roy stormed back to his office, where his men were waiting for him. "I'm going to the accident scene. I'm going to find her by myself if I have to!" he said, looking to Breda, Havoc and Fuery, daring them to argue with him. But they didn't.

"We're coming with you sir!", Havoc, Fuery and Breda said in one voice. Once again Mustang was surprised at how loyal his men were, or how close their team was. Riza was almost as dear to them as she was for Roy. "Let's find her then!", Roy said. The men nodded and before they knew, they were in the car and on their way to the site.


	4. Traces

Thank you all once again! And I'm sorry for the names of the characters, I'm really bad at inventing them... Most of the names I use are from books I have, mostly from my chemistry books. :D Hope you like this chapter, the third and fourth chapter were the most difficult for me to write... so please read and review!

And to PokemonFreak90: I don't think that Roy would believe that Riza is dead without seeing it himself. When something bad happens, people often don't want to believe it. Plus I'm not a pessimist, there is always hope!

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><p>Fuery didn't know what was worse in the situation. When he had heard what had happened, he had felt devastated. But telling Roy was even more terrible. To see how cold his eyes got, how he denied everything... Maybe that was the worst part. They all, Havoc, Breda and him, had wanted to deny it too, but they had heard the facts. The military didn't claim something like that before they were sure it was the truth. But none of them had the heart to tell Roy that, when he had said he was going to find her. They just did what they did best, followed him. And in their hearts they hoped Mustang would find her.<p>

So there they were now, in the car towards Resembool. It was going to take a little longer with car than a train, but for obvious reasons, trains weren't moving for the time being. It would be morning before they were there.

Roy sat in the backseat, stroking Hayate who had his head on his lap. Riza had left her dog to Fuery. Hayate didn't really like to travel and Fuery knew how to take care of him. In the end he had givin Riza Hayate in the first place. They had taken Hayate with them, partly because there was no place where they could leave him, but also because his senses could be useful when they searched for her. The dog already seemed to sense that something was wrong.

Roy watched out of the window, even though there was only blackness there. His mind didn't form any clear thoughts. All he could think of was her. Why he hadn't gone with her? He could have found time somewhere. Or maybe he should have made some excuse why she shouldn't leave. He would do anything to turn back time. She might be there in the train, burnt, maybe even dead. And every moment it took to travel, could be one moment closer to her death.

No, he shouldn't think that. She had probably found some way to get out of the wagon before it exploded. Yeah, it must have been like that. But the images of her in the pool of blood didn't leave his mind alone. He knew the images were just memories of the promised day, but still he couldn't make them disappear. It was just like on the promised day, she was dying, but he couldn't do anything. He could just hope she would hang in there.

Roy didn't sleep the whole night. Fuery, Breda and Havoc were taking turns in driving, but they didn't let Roy drive. His mind was too distracted with other things. Finally, in the first rays of sunlight, they saw the train.

It was worse than Roy had imagined. The train didn't look very good. It was almost entirely off the tracks; only the last wagons were still in place. The engine had hit the mountainside and most of the train had fallen to its sides. But the most dramatic part of the accident was the third wagon, which had exploded on impact. It had been entirely burned, only the backbone of wagon was still there. Two wagons around it had also been badly burned.

Roy was stunned by the view. He had expected it to be bad, but it was always worse to see it with your own eyes. They parked the car beside the road, which ran next to train track. There were a lot of officers around the train, but it was awfully quiet. The desperate yells had become quiet, all the people that were involved in the accident, alive, hurt or dead, were transferred to hospital or morgue. The only thing left was the destroyed train and a lot of officers trying to figure out what had happened.

Roy took steps towards the train. His eyes were fixed on the exploded wagons. There had to be some clues as to what had happened... But he wasn't able to get very close before he was stopped by some officer. "Excuse me sir, this is a crime scene and no outsiders are allowed to pass," said a tall, brown haired officer. Roy looked into his eyes, and the man stepped back. He could see the anger and determination in Roy's eyes. But Roy didn't have time to say anything before he heard Havoc's voice behind him.

"We're from central, and we are investigating 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye's part in this accident. We would appreciate it if you could give us some information about the accident." The officer seemed to drink in the information and seemed to remember something. "Did you say Riza Hawkeye?" the man said, and looked at Mustang. Roy nodded and watched how the man went all white. "But that would mean that you're General Mustang!" Roy just nodded again, annoyed. The man didn't seem very smart.

"I'm Sergeant Brown. There's not much I can tell you. It seems that the train tracks were somehow battered, probably on purpose. The train was transferring expensive materials to the mine near Resembool. There was some gold even, but now it's disappeared, so it seems to be a robbery. Unfortunately the train was also transferring some explosive materials, and as you can see, they reacted in the accident. That explosion destroyed two transfer wagons and one passenger wagon. There were 15 casualties in that wagon according to the ticket sale list and conductor. Most of the bodies were so badly burned that they couldn't be recognized. I'm sorry, but that also includes 1st Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. We also found her luggage inside the almost entirely burned wagon, which confirm our suspicions."

All of them, Roy, Fuery, Havoc, Breda and even Hayate, looked at the burned wagon. It didn't really look like anyone could have survived from the wagon. But Roy wasn't ready to give up. "Could I see her luggage?" he asked with a cold voice. The Sergeant nodded and led them towards the train. He didn't stop until they were right beside it and then he pointed at the traveling bag in the ground. Roy gasped. It really was Riza's, he could recognize it even though it was badly burnt. It was simple brown bag, which had her name in small print near the handle. He fell to his knees on the ground. This was too much. He could feel the tears forming once more.

Hayate let out a bark and distracted Roy from his thoughts. They all looked at the dog who was always so calm and almost never barked. Hayate was right beside Roy, sniffing the luggage. Roy understood that the dog smelled Riza, and was eager to see her. "I know boy, we miss her too," Roy said, and patted Hayate. But the dog had something else in his mind and before they realized he was sniffing the ground and was moving towards the exploded passenger wagon. Roy's heart started to beat faster. Maybe there was still hope; maybe she had got out in time. He got up to his feet and started to follow the dog. All the others followed them in silence. The Sergeant came last, very confused of what was going on.

Hayate led them to the remains of passenger wagon and sniffed around. They looked in silence at how the dog tried to find something. Roy was afraid that the dog wouldn't find any other trace because of how long Hayate was taking. Havoc almost said something, but then Hayate barked again, and started to move away from the wagon. And he wasn't going to the same direction that they had come from. Hayate sniffed the ground and was moving quite fast. They all started to hope she had somehow gotten out, that she might be alive. And Hayate would help them find Riza.

But then, suddenly, Hayate lifted his nose from the ground and looked confused. He had led them to the road where their car was, but a little further along the road. Hayate sniffed the ground a little more, but didn't seem to find anything. He gave a whine and came back to Roy. Roy felt his heart sank. Who was he kidding? Things were never so easy. It would have been a miracle if Hayate had found Riza. But at least he had given them a precious clue. "Good boy, well done," Roy said and patted his head. Both the man and the dog looked like they had been let down.

"Did anybody move Hawkeye's luggage over here?" asked Fuery to the Sergeant. Sergeant Brown looked confused and shook his head. "No, all the baggage was put in the same place on the field, I don't see any reason why somebody would have brought the 1st Lieutenant's luggage here." Fuery nodded and looked thoughtful. Roy looked at him and realized they were thinking the same thing. "That leaves only two opinions then. Either Hayate has lost his sense of smell or Hawkeye must have been here."


	5. Unexpected guests

Sorry for not updating in a while, but my beta reader had some computer problems. And I don't want to publish without her corrections! Yourlifeinwords is doing wonderful work, without her this story would be much harder to read! And when the corrections were finally ready, I went to a trip to Lapland for a week, and in that time I didn't have Internet access so I couldn't update... But here it is finally, a new chapter! I try to update more quickly from now on! :D Read and review!

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><p>Ed was happy to be home. The trip to the West had been interesting, and he really needed to make. Even if he wasn't alchemist anymore, he still wanted to know more about it. But one year without Winry had been hard. Now that he was home, he didn't understand how he had managed to stay away for so long. He loved to be with her. He could really think of her as his wife, and soon she would be. They had already started to plan the wedding. Ed smiled; it really was good to be home.<p>

That evening Winry was baking apple pie for him. Pinako was out of town, visiting some old friend of hers. Ed hoped that Al would have been there too, but he was still in Xing. He wanted so much to share his experiences from the journey with him, and hear everything Al had learned. But he needed to wait a little longer: Al had promised to come back for the wedding.

Ed knew quite well why he hadn't come home yet. There was one princess that seemed to have stole Al's heart. On the phone Ed had said to him that he could bring a date to the wedding. Ed smiled; it still made him laugh how Al had lost his words after that. He could almost imagine how Al blushed. But even if Ed teased Al for his crush, he was also happy that everything had worked out. He had always wanted his brother to be happy.

Ed thought it was going to be another peaceful evening, just him and Winry. But he couldn't have been more wrong; one knock on the door changed everything. "I'll get it!", Ed yelled to Winry who was working in the kitchen. "Who the hell is coming for a visit at this time?" he muttered to himself as he got up from his chair and walked towards the door. If he had guessed who was behind it, he would have never got it right.

Ed opened the door and saw Havoc, Fuery and Breda. He was amazed by the sight; he hadn't seen Mustang's men since promised day. But if Mustang's men were here, it also meant that Mustang was here too. And as he looked behind the three men, he saw Roy behind them. "What the hell.. What are you guys doing here?", said Ed, confused. He didn't know what to say, it wasn't like them to just drop by without notice.

Havoc, Fuery and Breda looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Mustang didn't even seem to hear, he just stared the opposite way, looking at the darkening front yard. The only one that greeted Ed happily was Black Hayate, who gave a bark and wagged his tail. Ed greeted Hayate with a short scratch behind his ear. Then, he looked back to Mustang and his men. They all seemed somehow odd... like they were sad. Something was badly wrong, he could sense it. "Is something wrong?", Ed asked worriedly.

Havoc finally opened his mouth: "We have some bad news. Can we come in?" Havoc said seriously. Ed nodded and let the group in. He realized then that all of the Mustang's team wasn't there. Riza Hawkeye was no where to be seen, which was kind of odd when her dog was there. Ed didn't remember the last time he had seen Black Hayate or Mustang without Hawkeye. Could it be that something had happened to her? Ed shook his head. No, Riza was strong; she never got into any trouble.

"Winry? We got some visitors!" Ed yelled to the kitchen. Winry seemed just as surprised to see the group when they all entered in the kitchen. "Hey guys! What brought you all here?" Winry asked smiling. She always liked visitors, even if they were unexpected. "Where is Hawkeye? Isn't she always with you?" Winry said to Mustang, laughing at the end.

But her joke didn't get the wanted result. Havoc, Fuery and Breda looked like she had hit them, and they looked sadly to the ground. Mustang gave Winry a look that spooked the hell out of her. She had never seen Mustang eyes so black. They had lost all the sparkle they once had. "What has happened?" asked Winry, scared.

"There had been a train accident, and Hawkeye was in it. The wagon which she was in got badly burned and we haven't found her anywhere. Her luggage was found from the remains of the wagon", said Breda quickly and gave a sigh. He seemed to think it was easier to say fast. It took a second for Ed and Winry to understand what he had said. Ed stared at Havoc, he couldn't believe those words. He could hear Winry gasp behind him.

Ed had heard of the accident from the radio, but he had no idea that Hawkeye was in it. Now he understood why the men looked the way they did. Ed looked at Mustang, who was staring the table. Ed knew his mind wasn't in the present. Mustang and Hawkeye's relationship might look purely professional to most people's eyes, but Ed knew better. He had seen how Hawkeye had stopped Mustang from killing Envy; he had seen how they stood side by side. Ed knew that Roy loved Riza just like he loved Winry, even if they never let it show. Their relationship just wasn't as simple as Winry's and his.

"You mean that she has..." Winry tried to say died, but she couldn't. Nobody was using the word because none of them wanted to believe it. "We don't know what happened." To everyone surprise, Mustang had started to speak. His voice was cold, distant. Someone might have said he didn't care, but it was probably the only way he could speak of it. Ed understood how hard it was to Roy to even speak of the matter. "It seems that Hawkeye was there, but there were some odd elements. Like Black Hayate here: he got the smell of his owner, and lead us to a place where she shouldn't have been. Then the smell disappeared, but I believe it's some kind of clue..", Mustang continued. He was patting Hayate's head, avoiding everyone else's eyes.

There was a silence. Nobody knew what to do. Even if Hawkeye was alive, they had no clues on how to continue. Why would somebody kidnap her? Or maybe they just wanted to deny she was dead. Ed was thinking hard. He wanted to help his friends; they had helped him a lot. They had to start somewhere, so they might as well begin from the start. "So where was Hawkeye traveling? Maybe there are some clues over there?", Ed said.

All the four man raised their eyes to look at Ed, even Mustang. They all seemed to be surprised of what he had just said. "What? Why are you looking me like that?"Ed said, wanting to know what was going on. He looked at Winry, who looked just as confused as he felt.

"You don't know? Are you fooling with us, or aren't you and Winry talking?", Mustang said seriously. "I don't know where she was going. We haven't talked for a while", Winry said. Havoc, Breda, Fuery and Mustang all looked at each other. They all thought the same thing, but Havoc was the one to voice it out. "Then there is something strange going on. Hawkeye got a letter, which asked her to visit you and Winry. But if it wasn't from you two, it seems somebody planned the accident."


	6. Never forget

And finally a chapter you have probably been waiting for! :) I would really appreciate if you would leave a review! I also take gladly the more critical reviews, they help me to develop as a writer!

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><p>Riza woke up. Her body seemed to ache everywhere. Her head felt dizzy and her eyelids felt heavy. But slowly she forced her eyes to open and started to realize what was around her. She was in some kind of warehouse. It wasn't very big, about a size of a normal house. There wasn't much more than floor, just some boxes and dust.<p>

How had she ended up in here? She remembered being in the train. It had started to shake and people had screamed. Riza had known something had been wrong; luggage had started to fall from the top shelves. For a second she thought it was the end. Then everything had been black, she must have hit her head. She had some hazy images from being carried around, and seeing the train off of the tracks. She had seen how one of the wagons had exploded. But then somebody had put an odd smelling cloth to her face, and after that she didn't remember anything.

Riza tried to move, but realized that her hands were tied up. That wasn't a good sign. She had no idea where she was, but it was obvious that who ever had brought her here was up to no good. If somebody had just saved her from the train, her hands wouldn't be tied. But who would want something from her? She had no idea.

At least her legs were still free. Maybe she could escape before who ever had caught her, noticed that she had woken up. It would be hard with hands tied, but possible. But when she had formed the thought, she could already hear footsteps. As Riza looked to the direction of door, she saw three men coming closer. She didn't recognize any of them, but they were all red eyed and blond: Ishvalans.

Riza understood then why she was there, all was starting to make sense. The time she and General had spent in Ishval had proven to her that the bitterness was still there. Ishvalans wouldn't forget what they had done there. They had even tried to kill Mustang, more than once. Riza had also killed many people at the time, no wonder somebody wanted to kill her too. She couldn't really blame them, truthfully speaking she still blamed herself. The war was never over in her.

"Good morning Hawkeye, slept well?" asked the man in the middle. He was shorter than the two other men, and had long hair which was tied back. He smiled cruelly. Riza didn't answer. "Not feeling talkative? Well, sooner or later you will start to talk. We have time. You can call me David. I will be you're host for a long time," the man said smiling. Riza still refused to talk. If they were going to kill her, she wished they would do it quickly. But it seemed they wanted to torture her for a long time, and she wasn't going to let them have satisfaction of seeing she was worried.

"You may be wonder why we have brought you here? The reason is quite simple. You're protecting the wrong man. And you're not so innocent either. You have shot many of our people, but your crimes won't stop there," said man who had called himself David. He had caught Riza's attention. Did they plan to do something to Mustang too? And what was the crime he was talking about? Either the man was talking nonsense, or things were going to get even worse.

"We know who your father was. We know that he told of how to use flame alchemy to Mustang," David told to her. Riza was stunned. There weren't many people who knew that. Riza's father had always been a little bit odd, and most people had avoided him. Few knew that Roy had been his apprentice. These people had done their investigations well. But they would never going to get him, not if it was up to her.

"We have already tried to kill Mustang twice, but you always seem to get in the way," David said. So here was the man who had planned the murder attempt towards Mustang. She had always thought they shouldn't have let it go so easily. All these years he had been planning something against Roy.

"So we needed to get you, before we can get to him. And we know that you can tell us about the flame alchemy he is using. With your help, we can finally kill the great flame alchemist!" Riza almost laughed. If they thought she would help them willingly, they were out of their minds. "Do you really think I would tell you how to kill Mustang after protecting him for so long?" Riza said.

She would never talk. Truthfully speaking she didn't even know how to use flame alchemy. Riza's father had never told her the meaning of the tattoo on her back. And when Roy had seen it and learned it by heart, she asked him not to tell anything about how it was used. She didn't want to know. And now that the tattoo was destroyed, she would never know. Roy was the only one who knew, and she wanted to keep it that way. Flame alchemy in the wrong hands could be a terrible weapon. She saw what it had done in Ishval, that's why she had asked Roy to destroy the tattoo. She might die here, but she would never betray Roy. And there were bigger things to protect than Mustang.

David just smiled back. "You might think that now. But as I said, we have time. Everybody thinks that you're dead. Nobody is going to search for you. And finally you will talk. Why would you suffer for a man who had killed thousands? Your General will forget you soon, if he hasn't already. So there's no reason for you to keep quiet. I will leave my man here to watch over you. You can tell him when you change your mind," David said and nodded towards big, very strong looking bald man next to him. Then David left with the other man.

Riza's thoughts were racing. Did Roy really think she was dead? There had been a train accident, and then that explosion. It had happened probably just to cover her kidnapping and frame her dead. Roy had no reason to think otherwise. There hadn't been any threats towards her before: It was a perfect crime. It made her angry to feel so helpless. If she wanted to get out, she had to do it herself.

But how she would get out? It seemed that they wanted to keep an eye on her all the time. The man sitting in a chair couple of feet from her seemed quite strong, but didn't look like he was used to fighting. She might be able to get past him if she had her hands free. But with her hands tied she wouldn't get far, and there was no point to even try to escape.

Riza looked around. There didn't seem to be anything she could use, only smooth rock floors, wooden walls and boxes. There might be something useful in the boxes, but they were too far for her to reach unnoticed. She needed to invent something else.

The man watching her seemed to be amused by the situation. He seemed to guess her thoughts. "Don't think you are going anywhere, there is nowhere you can run. We are in middle of the wilderness, you would never reach the town," he said. He seemed happy to see her trapped, like he got some satisfaction out of the situation.

"You know, it is a shame to kidnap such a beautiful creature as you. If I would not have known, I would have never guessed that you are a murderer just like Mustang. You might think that people have forgotten what you have done, but they never will. That war killed my parents. I don't care if you are pretending to regret and repair things. Nobody can bring my parents back. And there are thousands of stories just like mine. I will revenge for them too," the man said looking at her, hate in his eyes.

Riza looked at him sadly. She knew that she couldn't fix things. She had done many horrible things that could never be undone. She would never forget that war. The need to run away seemed to vanish. Was she really allowed to fight against this? The Ishvalans were allowed to hate her. She knew that they could never forget, no matter how many times she would apologize. Maybe she should just die here. She had deserved this.

But she would never say anything about Roy. He was guilty too, but she knew he regretted it all just as much as she. And Roy would chance the country soon. He would make the country a democracy. These Ishvalans didn't seem to understand how important his job was. He had to change the county so that what happened in Ishval, would never happen again.

"I know we can't change things. I know it won't bring any comfort to you when I say I regret what I did in Ishval, but I do. We have been trying to help your country, don't you see that? You're just doing more damage to your country by stopping Mustang," Riza tried to explain. But the man just laughed at her. "Of course you are trying to protect him. We have been keeping track of you. You and Mustang have quite a history together. Why are you so loyal to him? He has burned so many people. And he is also quite a ladies' man, and doesn't seem to take his job seriously. If I was you, I would be happy to tell how to get rid of him," the man said and looked at her like he was disgusted by what he saw.

Riza said nothing. When he came to the ladies man part, Riza knew Roy well enough to know it was just a theater. Roy wanted to make others think that he was weaker than he really was. And it seemed to work perfectly. Maybe even too perfectly. It made Riza sad when everyone underestimated Roy's work: She had never seen anyone who was so committed to his work.

But the words of burning people really made Riza think. Sometimes she had wished that she had never told Mustang how to use flame alchemy. Like in Ishval, when she had asked him to burn away all the markings on her back. Or when he had tried to kill Envy, so full of revenge that he didn't care about anything else. But after all, Roy had also saved many people with his talent. He had killed Lust when she had tried to kill them. He had helped to kill Father. He had done so many great things, and still people just remembered him as a man who burned down Ishval.

There was only one thing she was sure of. She would never tell them how to use flame alchemy. It was too great power to be used wrongly. There was no other person except Mustang that she would trust enough to give such power. No other man that she would love enough to risk her own life. She might die here, but the flame alchemy would die with her. Roy would never tell anyone. He had promised that once.

She could just hope Roy would survive without her. He was going to be Fuhrer, he needed to continue without her. She hoped that the boys would look after Roy when she was gone. But in her heart she hoped that they'd have had more time. To place one more kiss to his lips. But all of that had always seemed too far to reach. Now it was lost forever.


	7. Talk

Once again sorry for not updating in a while! My beta reader(thank you once again for yourlifeinwords!) and I have been both busy! I have moved and celebrated Walpurgis night, or as we call it here: Vappu. It's especially a student party over here, and because I'm in University, we have had all kinds of party's in the last week of April and first of May. But back to the matter: I have written this story to the end, so you will get it all, you just have to wait that I will get my grammar checked out! :)  
>Hopefully you like it, read and review!<p>

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><p>Roy wasn't able to sleep; he had stared at the roof for hours. He hadn't really slept since the accident. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Riza in the pool of blood. He knew it was just a flashback of the promised day, and had nothing to do with the present situation. But still, it didn't leave him alone. He didn't know where she was. She could be hurt; she could even be dead... Roy got up, he couldn't think of that. He sat on the bed and buried his head to his hands. He had to focus on finding her. She had to be alive.<p>

Last night they hadn't really got to any conclusion on how to continue. There was no way to trace the letter Riza had got. It was too difficult: they didn't know where Riza had put the letter, and even if they found it, there was no guarantee it would help them at all. They might research the handwriting or where it was sent, but it would take time they didn't have.

And when it came to the accident, all they knew was that it wasn't just random accident. There was someone behind it, but they had no idea who could it be. Somebody seemed to need something from Riza and that meant that she was probably alive. It seemed to make more sense that they wanted something from her other than just to kill her. And if she had died in the accident, Hayate wouldn't have smelled her outside of the train. But how all that information would help them find Hawkeye, Roy had no idea.

Roy was sleeping upstairs in a bedroom that used to be Winry's. Now she shared her parent's old bedroom with Ed. Roy looked down at Fuery, who was sleeping in the floor on a thin mattress. Hayate laid on the floor next to Fuery, and looked at Roy. He had woken from his light dog sleep when he had noticed that Roy had sat on his bed. Havoc and Breda slept in the next room where Pinako normally slept.

Roy was happy that his team had come with him to Resembool. When he had heard about the accident, he would have done anything, anything to bring Riza back. He had been reckless, yelling in Grumman's office. Roy just hoped that Grumman had understood. He didn't remember much of what he or Grumman had said that day, he just remembered how Grumman had told him where to go. If Havoc, Breda and Fuery hadn't come with him, Roy would have probably driven off of the road. He had been a mess. He still was.

Roy walked carefully out of the room, trying not to wake up Fuery. Hayate followed him with his eyes and started to get up, but Roy tapped his head and whispered "stay". The dog laid back down and put his head to the ground. Roy walked out of the room, and Hayate stayed right beside Fuery who was in a deep sleep.

Roy closed the door and walked downstairs towards the kitchen. Maybe he could make a cup of tea, it might help him sleep. He was no use to Riza if he couldn't think properly or his body was so tired that his reflexes would be slow. Roy yawned. He really should sleep. But the thought of closing his eyes scared him.

But he wasn't only one awake; there was light coming out of the kitchen. The sun had started to rise, but it was still dark. Roy walked in and saw Winry staring at the bottom of her teacup. She raised her head and smiled a little when she saw Roy.

"So you can't get any sleep either? I made some tea, if you'd like to have some," Winry said. Roy smiled and nodded to her. He helped himself a cup of tea and sat in the chair opposite to Winry. There was moment of silence, neither one of them knew what to say.

"I just can't believe that all this is happening. Riza has always managed, I just never thought I would have to worry about her." Roy knew exactly what she meant. Riza rarely asked for any help, she always got by on her own. Life for her had never been easy. She had taken care of herself and her father all alone for years before Roy had come to the Hawkeye's house. Roy had been amazed by the young girl, who was more independent and had more responsibility than any girl of her age should have. It had made Riza stronger than anyone Roy knew.

"I know. Most of my life she has been looking after my back, watching over me. And the only time that I had to save her, she almost bled to death... That image just keeps on haunting me. I can't shut my eyes, because every time I do, I see her dying. She has to be alive, and I should focus on that, but I just can't. I'm too afraid of all the possibilities of what could have happened," Roy explained quietly, looking deep into his tea. He didn't really know why he was telling all this to Winry. He just needed to speak to someone.

Winry gave him a sad smile. She knew that Roy rarely told about his feelings, just like Riza. But when they decided to talk, Winry was there to listen. It amazed her sometimes how similar they really were, behind their public images. In the end they wanted the same things. Maybe that's why they were so close. Maybe that was the reason why they had fallen in love with each other. It was a shame that they weren't able to tell that to each other.

"She will survive, she always has. Didn't you once command her not to die? I bet she hasn't forgetten that," Winry said and smiled. Roy looked up at Winry and smiled a little. "I think it's just the timing that makes everything even worse. We're so close to our goal now. Grumman is going to retire soon, and I will become the Fuhrer. I just can't think about any of that without her. We could finally have some freedom, some happiness..." Roy mumbled the last sentence, looking somewhere far.

"What do you mean by that?" Winry asked, looking at him curiously. Roy looked back to her, a little surprised that he had really said those words aloud. He hadn't planned to tell her, but somehow the words had just come out. But what damage would it really make to tell her? She was a friend of Riza and would never tell anyone. Maybe it was just hard to say after all these years of silence. But now he just needed to say it aloud: He wanted to tell how much he needed Riza to be alive, how much he really cared. And before he realized, he started to speak.

"After the promised day we made a promise. We would change the country, and I would someday become a Fuhrer. And when that day would finally come, I wouldn't need her so much in the military. After all, my goal is to make Amestris a democracy, in other words, make myself useless," Roy explained, looking at Winry with a sad smile. He wanted so much for all of that to happen.

Then Roy continued, and revealed to Winry his deepest desire: "So that day Riza could leave the Military and become a free citizen. Then there wouldn't be any rules that could stop us from being together, to get married and have a family. And maybe after all the bad things we have done, we would be able to have some happiness..." Winry smiled to him. Somehow Roy felt a little better with that one smile.

"You will have all that. I will not believe that life could be that cruel to you. You have done so many good things too, and so has she. You deserve to be happy," Winry said, convincing Roy as much as herself.


	8. Announced dead

Thank you for reviews, alerts and favourites, they keep me happy! :) I would be even happier with more reviews, but I take what I can get! :D

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><p>Riza couldn't sleep. It was awkward trying to sleep with her hands tied. And it didn't help that the bed they had given to her was just a thin mattress. It was better than the hard, cold rock floor, but not by much. But the main reason that kept Riza awake was her thoughts. Every time she closed her eyes, she thought of Roy. He must have heard of the accident by now. Riza couldn't think any further: she didn't want to know how Roy had reacted when he had heard she was in it.<p>

Riza's guard had changed to a different man in the evening. Or at least she thought it had been evening. She had no idea what time of the day it was, there were no windows in the warehouse. She had seen nothing but darkness coming out of the door when the guard had changed. It might as well be in the middle of the night or early morning. She had no idea how long she had been here, it might be just a day, but it might have been longer. It was hard to keep track of time when there was no light. She also didn't know how long she had been unconscious.

Riza didn't really like her new guard. He was the same man that had left with David earlier that day. He didn't say a word to her, not even when she asked for water from him. Maybe he thought that she might poison him with words if he opened his mouth. It was easier to hear somebody accusing you as a murderer, than bare the silence and coldness.

It seemed that the two men had some kind of shifts, the silent man seemed to be on the night watch and the other man, who had introduced himself as Bob, seemed to be on the day watch. It helped Riza to know what time it was, if it was the truth. They might as well change shifts randomly.

The night went by as Riza occupied her mind with thinking of ways to get out. She needed something sharp to get her hands untied, but she didn't know where she could find something like that. Her kidnappers had been quite through full, they hadn't left anything sharp lying around.

Riza wasn't sure what to do even if she did somehow get out. They had said that they were in the wilderness, far away from any city. Of course they could be lying, but if they did speak the truth, she might escape from here just to die in some forest. But in the end that might be a better option. She doubted that they would leave her alone for too long. After all, she wasn't going to say anything. And when they realized that, they would get rougher.

And as she thought of that, she heard a noise as the door opened. She looked to the door and saw a beam of light and Bob. He was smiling happily, carrying a newspaper and a cup. She could smell the coffee aroma coming out of the cup, and her stomach crumpled. They had only offered her a piece of bread and glass of water the day before. Maybe it was their plan to starve her to death.

"Good morning! You can go to sleep now. I assume that she was no trouble?" Bob asked the other man. He just shook his head and left. Bob sat in the chair the other man had just sat on. "He isn't very talkative, you know. Your dear boss killed his whole family. He had a beautiful wife and two young boys. They all died in the Ishval and he has never gotten over it. He just wants his revenge. And who are you to say he can't have it?" Bob said, looking somewhere far off.

Riza had nothing to say. She had already guessed that the man was somehow bitter of the war of Ishval, but it always felt bad to hear someone say it out loud. All those souls had haunted her mind for years. She had done what she had been told to do, but did that make it more right? Did it make it more forgivable? But it was wrong to blame them for everything.

"Do you really think that it was all Mustang's fault what happened in Ishval? He was just a piece in a greater game. Of course we did wrong to do what we had been told to, but it wasn't our idea. You're looking after the wrong man," Riza said, wanting to explain. But Bob didn't listen, he just laughed. "Why are you repeating yourself? You just said the same things you did yesterday. If you think you can change my mind, you are wrong. Mustang deserves to die. He might not be the mastermind of the plan, but he was the tool. Fire alchemy killed hundreds of Ishvalans. We are going to destroy that forever," Bob said and smiled.

Riza wanted to say that all of that was her fault. She had revealed the secret to Roy. She had let her father tattoo those secrets to her back. But if she would have told all of that, she would also give them an advantage of knowing. And they would see her back. She knew that Roy had burned everything important in her back but still.. She was afraid that there might be something left.

She was distracted from her thoughts when Bob laughed again. "Oh, this is great! Those morons... They have no idea!" Riza looked at him confused. Bob was reading newspaper, and it seemed that something had caught his attention. He noticed that she was listening and stood up from his stool. "Look, isn't that a pretty picture of you?" he said smiling and showed her the picture in the newspaper.

It was really her picture, an official military picture taken years ago when she had joined in the military. Riza couldn't help but think that the girl looked so young, so innocent, like somebody else. Riza took her eyes off the picture, and looked at the text above her picture: Riza Hawkeye, Lieutenant, died in a train accident.

Riza was shocked. There it was, in black and white, she was dead. There would be a funeral for her, without the body. How did they end up thinking she was dead? Were all the other people in her wagon dead? There had been an explosion; it was all Riza could remember. Maybe it had been enough to burn all of the victims unrecognizable. Then they wouldn't know that she had gotten out before the explosion.

In some way Riza had hoped that the men were just lying to her. But the picture proved otherwise, everybody really thought that she was dead. She felt her heart racing. Roy thought that she was dead... She couldn't even imagine how he had felt when he had heard that. Hopefully he hadn't done anything stupid. He still needed to become the Fuhrer, even if she wasn't there to help.

"Maybe now you will open your mouth? Nobody is going to look for you. They all believe you're dead!" Bob said smiling, mocking her. He had seen how Riza had turned pale when she had seen the picture, and he enjoyed it. But if he thought that Riza would tell them everything they wanted just to get out of here alive, he was wrong. Bob seemed to think that it really mattered to her what other's thought. But she didn't care. She had to protect Roy, as it might be the last time she had a chance to do that. It really didn't matter if he thought she was dead or not. She wouldn't give them tools to kill him, never.

"You are wrong on that one. I will never tell you guys anything. You can keep me here for years, you can torture me, but I will never speak," Riza said, looking into Bob's eyes. Bob stepped back, and threw the paper away. "Maybe you will get your way then. David isn't that patient of a man. He will visit you this evening, and I believe that after that visit you're not going to be treated this well anymore," Bob said smiling as he seemed to picture her suffering. Riza stared at him. He looked like he had been waiting for a long time to hurt her. Maybe he had. She really had to get out of here. It didn't really seem that anyone was going to save her.


	9. Denial

First I want to thank for Elite-chan and Naomi Tachi, you made my weekend :) And thank you for all other readers too, you keep me going!

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><p>Ed hadn't slept very well. He couldn't stop thinking about everything he had heard that evening. Sleep didn't want to come. Ed had held Winry in his arms, but she had been just as restless as he: she had tossed and turned all night. He had wanted to say something soothing, something to help her to sleep, but he couldn't find the words. So they both stayed awake in the darkness, without saying a word. Ed just held Winry a little closer, hoping it meant more than words.<p>

Sometime in the late night, Ed had finally fell at sleep. In the morning, he realized that Winry had already woken up. He couldn't help wondering if she had slept at all. Ed got up from the bed and yawned. It was going to be another hard day and they still had no idea how to continue. Ed walked downstairs and went to get the mail. The newspaper had big headlines of the train accident. He sighed, it seemed that the newspaper wouldn't help him forget the situation.

Ed continued his steps towards kitchen, but then he heard voices and stopped. Winry wasn't the only one awake, she was talking with someone. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, and then he heard Mustang's voice. But there was something wrong with his voice. He didn't sound like he normally did; his sound was more... vulnerable, if that really could be said from a man like him. His voice reminded him of the day Roy had almost killed Envy. He had sounded so devastated when he had finally realized what he had done, realized that Riza was ready to kill him, and herself too.

What Mustang said next, surprised Ed a little. Of course he had known that he loved Riza, but he hadn't really believed that he was ever going to do anything about it. Ed smiled a little when Roy told Winry about his promise; they really did deserve all that. He might pretend that he didn't like Mustang, but in the end he was important to him. He was a little like a father figure to him, and Riza was a little like a mother to him. They both deserved to be happy after all that had happened.

He waited for a moment after they had stopped speaking. Ed didn't want Roy to know he had heard it all. Roy would never forgive himself if he knew Ed had heard him so vulnerable. "Morning!" Ed said smiling when he finally walked in the kitchen. Mustang looked up at him and mumbled morning, but he didn't look terrified. Roy didn't seem to realize he had heard them. Winry gave Ed a quick kiss and started to make some breakfast. Ed sat at the table and looked at Mustang. He looked very tired, even more than Winry. It seemed he hadn't slept at all.

Ed tried to think of something to say, but didn't know what. It seemed stupid to talk about anything normal when things were like they were. But on the other hand he didn't really want to talk about Riza either, because it made Mustang look even more darker. So they just sat there in an uncomfortable silence, while Winry was making breakfast.

Ed started to read the newspaper, trying to distract his thoughts from the situation. He thought of skipping the couple first pages, which were full of information about the train accident. But his eyes still stopped at the bottom of second page: Riza's brown eyes stared him from the paper. Ed looked it with horror. Riza Hawkeye, Lieutenant, died in a train accident, was the headline above her picture. They had announced her dead.

Ed looked at the Mustang, who still stared at his teacup. He didn't want Mustang to see this, it would kill him. Ed quickly folded the newspaper and hid it in the pile of paper. He walked to Winry and whispered into her ear: "Don't let Mustang see the newspaper." Winry looked a little confused, but nodded. Luckily Roy didn't seem to notice anything odd, and continued to stare into his teacup.

The rest of the house started to wake up. First, Fuery came downstairs, and a little after him Havoc and Breda. They all sat around the table, only saying "good morning". They just didn't know what to say or do. Ed could see how Winry looked at them in a way that said: "Boys! Why is it so hard for them to talk about how they feel?" Ed knew that she was right, they should talk. But it just wasn't easy for him, and it seemed that it was just as hard for the rest of them.

They ate breakfast, but no one seemed to have any appetite. Ed noticed that Mustang just played with his food, and put nothing to his mouth. After the rest of them had eaten their breakfast, Mustang finally opened his mouth. "I have been thinking about what to do next. Somebody clearly exploded the wagon to cover up that they were after Hawkeye. It seems likely that they also knew that the train was carrying some explosives. It must have been a part of their plan that we would think that she was dead. So, we should find out where those explosives were going and who knew about them."

The table was silent. Ed saw a big but in his thoughts. Whoever did this could have been planning only to kill her, not to kidnap her. But he didn't have a heart to tell Roy that. They all wanted to think she was alive. "That's a good idea. Maybe we should call Central, they must have that information," Fuery said and continued: "I can do that now, if you want, sir?" He really wanted to do something. Mustang shook his head. "No, it's better if I call. I have to talk to the Fuhrer too."

It seemed that somebody read their minds, because just after he had said that, the phone rang. "Who is calling so early?" Winry muttered and answered to the phone. "Rockbells, Winry speaking. Oh, hi Armstrong. How can I help you? Yes. I will get him." Winry took the phone off her ear. The whole room was watching her after they had heard her say Armstrong. "Roy, it's for you. It's Alex Armstrong," Winry said. Mustang got up from his stool, and got the phone from Winry.

"Mustang speaking," Roy said quietly. Ed tried to listen to what Armstrong said in the other end, but couldn't hear from so far away. But it seemed what ever he said made Roy look darker at every word. Ed knew that Armstrong was annoying and always so dramatic, but it seemed there was something else too. Finally, the anger burst out of Roy.

"She's not dead, stop talking like that! I don't need your apologies!" Mustang said, a little too loud. The whole kitchen stared at him. Ed started to get worried. It seemed that Armstrong had heard the news and had wanted to give his condolences. It was probably the last thing Mustang wanted to hear. He did his best to deny any possibility that Riza wasn't alive.

Then, Mustang suddenly looked straight at Ed. His eyes were dark and Ed knew that moment that Armstrong had mentioned the newspaper. He tried to look the other way, tried to ignore Mustang. "Where's the newspaper?" Roy said with a demanding voice. He had dropped the phone and it was hanging from its wire. Ed didn't know what to do. He didn't want Mustang to see the paper. "Give me the newspaper, Fullmetal, now!" Mustang yelled. He seemed to have run out of patience. But Ed just sat on the chair and didn't move.

Winry finally gave in and handed the paper to Mustang. Ed had to admit that there was no way to avoid it. Mustang would have found the paper one way or another. Roy slammed the newspaper to the table, and started to go through the pages. He didn't have to do it many times before he saw it. Ed felt sorry for Mustang. As Roy looked at Hawkeye's picture from the newspaper, his anger was replaced with sorrow. "No, they can't, they can't be sure, they don't know..." Mustang mumbled quietly. This was why Ed hadn't wanted to show the article to Roy. He knew it would break his heart.

Roy looked up from the paper. It seemed that he only then realized the people around him, staring at him. "It just can't be..." Mustang said, looking at all of them one by one. Ed knew that Mustang needed someone to say that Hawkeye was alive. But Fuery was quiet, staring at the table. Havoc avoided Mustang's eyes too. Breda got up and picked up the phone. He started to speak to Armstrong. The whole situation felt odd. Ed wanted to say the words Roy needed to hear, but he couldn't. There was a chance that they would never see Riza again, and Ed didn't want to lie. Roy seemed devastated. Ed could almost swear that he was on the edge of tears.

Roy walked out of the kitchen and out of the house. Ed looked as he went, but none of them followed him. They all knew Roy needed to be alone.


	10. Run

I really enjoyed writing this chapter, things are finally starting to happen! Hope you like it too, read and review! :)

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><p>Like Bob had promised, David came to visit that evening. He didn't seem happy at all. Riza saw how he argued with Bob in the doorway, but didn't hear them as they were speaking with whispers. David looked frustrated, but somehow Riza felt like there was also something else going on other than just the fact that she didn't speak. David looked very upset about something, maybe even little worried. Had they really though that she would speak so easily, or was there something else? If she only could hear them...<p>

Then Riza's thoughts were distracted by the smell of spicy food. It seemed to come from a bowl in Bob's hands. She was feeling so hungry, she had ate almost nothing in the past two days. One part of her wanted to eat whatever was in the bowl like a hungry animal. She needed to be strong if she was going to get out of here. But the other part of her wanted to resist the need to eat, she didn't want to do as they wanted her to do.

Finally they stopped arguing and David walked nearer so she could hear him. "Bob here told me that you refuse to tell anything to us?" David said, looking down to her. Riza said nothing, but got up from the ground and awkwardly leaned her back against the wall. It wasn't really comfortable, but she didn't want to lay down when somebody was talking to her. She didn't want to look so vulnerable.

"So that's how it goes? You do know that the whole military thinks you are dead? Even your dear General thinks you're dead. Nobody is going to save you, you have to save yourself!" David said, getting frustrated again. He had leaned his face just inches from hers, but she didn't move. She was prepared for anything.

"Like I said, you can keep me here as long as you like, but I am not going to betray my General or my country," Riza said calmly. She could see how hate formed in David's eyes. Then he finally snapped and slapped her across the face. Riza didn't flinch and didn't make a sound. She had been through a lot worse, and this was nothing compared to that. She could take anything.

"You're too stubborn for your own good. See that bowl in Bob's hands? It supposed to be your dinner," David said, and took the bowl from Bob's hands. Riza saw now that it was chicken soup, and she could feel her stomach crumple once more. But Riza already knew that she wasn't going to eat that, even if she wanted to.

And with that instance, David threw the bowl to the hard concrete floor. The bowl shattered to a thousand pieces around the floor. "It's not anymore. You have one more night to think if you really want to starve to dead here. Then, you might notice that we aren't that gentle," David said smiling evilly and left. Bob followed him to the door.

Riza didn't really care about the food. Things had ended up better than she could dream of. This was her chance. She moved her feet closer to the piece of glass lying closest to her. Bob and David discussed in the doorway, and didn't seem to notice anything. Her heart was beating hard. Carefully she moved the piece of glass closer to her body with her feet. When it was close enough she reached her tied hands for it, and wrapped it around her fingers. It felt quite sharp to her fingers. Riza smiled, she would get out of here.

It took the whole evening for her to cut the ropes in her hands. The glass wasn't that sharp and she had to be careful, she didn't want Bob to notice anything. It was also hard to cut the rope with tied hands, and she cut her own hands more than once. But little by little the ropes got more worn and finally, they gave in.

It seemed to be night already, because once more the quiet man came to watch over her. Riza was glad that he had the night shift, because he seemed a little less muscular than Bob. Maybe he was easier to take out. And the night was only time she could try to escape; she needed the darkness if she wanted to succeed.

Riza wasn't actually sure how she would get past her guard. She could fight, but she didn't really believe she could win against a man when it came to strength. And she wasn't at her best after two days of being tied and without food, not even talking about all the injuries she had gotten from the train accident.

There had to be another way. She wasn't sure what was outside of the storage hall, so she needed to delay the man as much as possible. Riza tried to look for some kind of weapon, it would be best if she could knock him unconscious. There were some wood boards lying against the wall, not quite far from her. They could serve for her purpose, because there was nothing else.

Now she just had to wait for the perfect opportunity, something that gave her time to get up, get her hands around that board and knock the man out before he knew what had hit him. She didn't have to wait for too long. The man started to read a newspaper, so he wasn't that focused on her anymore. It might be the only shot she ever got, so she took it.

Carefully Riza dropped the rope from her hands and stretched them a little. The man kept on reading, and didn't notice anything. Then she quietly moved her feet closer to her body so she could get up more quickly. She had to be very quick if she wanted this to work. The man still didn't raise his eyes from the newspaper. She could feel her heart beating, and felt how the adrenaline started to flow. This was her opportunity.

It all happened in an instant. She got up and got to the boards before the man even lifted his eyes from the newspaper. When he finally noticed what was going on, he didn't have time to protect himself before Riza hit the board to his head with force. He left out a small cry before he passed out. Riza's heart was racing, she had done it! Now she just had to get out of here quickly.

She ran to the door, and listened for a second. When she was sure there was no one, she opened the door quietly. Cold breeze greeted her; it felt good to breathe fresh air. She didn't have that many clothes on for the cold night, just her normal indoor clothes she had worn in the train. But there was no time to think about clothes, she needed to get out. It was all she could think of, getting out of here as fast as possible.

Riza looked around her in the dark. She saw many similar warehouses around her in a plain field. That wasn't good; she needed a forest or something like that where she could hide. But she had to go somewhere. To the right she saw a bigger building, and on the left the warehouses just disappeared in the darkness. She closed the door behind her, and ran to the left. The warehouses had to stop somewhere. There had to be way out.

She ran in the quiet night for a few minutes, before she reached the end of the warehouses. But the ground behind them didn't really look promising. The plain fields just kept on going. There were some grass plants coming out of the sand, but no trees or anything. The area seemed very dry, she was probably still somewhere in the southeastern dry areas. The place itself seemed to be some kind of factory. No other place needed so many warehouses and could be placed in a middle of nowhere. It wasn't her lucky day, it seemed, but she continued to run away from the buildings.

Then things got even worse. She heard voices behind her: They had noticed that she was missing already. How had they been so quick? Had the man already woken up? Riza panicked. She couldn't turn back now and changed directions. The only way was just to go straight forward, to the open grounds. She didn't want to think how easy a target she would be, but it was the only chance. So she ran and didn't care about her aching body.

Her heart was beating fast, her breathing was shallow. She couldn't stop; she had to get as far away as possible. She tried to look for some kind of hide out, but there was nothing as far as she could see in the dark. Riza cursed in her mind. The voices behind her became clearer with every step she took. She glanced back and saw a car in distance. There was no way she could ever beat a car in speed. But just as she was going to get desperate, she saw a forest growing in front of her. If she just could get that far, she might be able to pull this off. No car could follow her into the forest.

Riza ran even faster. She didn't feel her legs, she just ran. All she could feel was her heart racing, as she heard how the voices got nearer. Just a little more, just a little, she kept on saying in her head. She had to get away. Maybe then she could see Roy once more...

She almost got there. The forest was only twenty feet from her, when she heard a gun shot. Then she felt something hit her in her shoulder, and she tumbled to the ground. She felt the warm liquid soaking her shirt, but she didn't really feel anything from all the adrenaline. She barely realized it really was dark blood in her shirt. Riza bite her teeth together and tried to get up again. One shot wasn't going to stop her. But it was too late. Before she got up, she felt a weight jumping on her back, and she hit the ground violently.

"Do you really believe you can escape from us? We have more eyes than just one!" It was Bob. Riza cursed, she had failed. She could feel her hands tied and then Bob lifted her up. Riza looked around her, and saw two other man getting out from the car. She didn't recognize any of them. It seemed that one of them had seen her escape. "It's a pity we have to keep you alive! But at least we can make sure you will never escape again. You should think twice before doing something like that!" Bob said and smiled.

Riza wondered for a second what he meant. She looked confused as one of the man lifted her right leg into a vertical position. Then she saw how the other man took a steel pipe from the car and moved towards her. She understood now what they were planning: They really were making sure that she couldn't walk anymore. She tried to escape from their hands, but their grip was steady, and her shoulder was starting to ache from the pain. Riza watched with horror how the man raised the pipe and hit it with force to her leg. She could hear a snap, and felt a rush of pain. Then everything went black.


	11. Strange behavior

Are you guys on a holiday or what? :D According to traffic stats it seems half of my readers are mystically disappeared.. Well, hopefully you're having a great time and continue to read my story when you get back ;) And once again thank you for the lovely reviews, keep them coming! :)

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><p>Roy was out for hours. He just needed to get away for a moment, to collect himself. It was just too much; the newspaper had been a last drop. Roy knew that most of the people in the Military believed that Riza had died, he had even heard Grumman say it. But still it felt horrible to see it printed on the paper, to see her face next to the word dead.<p>

It was after midday when he finally went back in. He didn't want to face the others after he had lost control like that, but he couldn't avoid them forever. The weakness in him had been so visible to them, now they all knew how desperately he wanted to find Riza. What kind of leader was he? The Military wasn't for the weak. And he would be Fuhrer soon. Roy wondered what his men thought of him after his outburst. Would they follow him anymore?

Roy walked towards the smell of roasted chicken and found Winry in the kitchen. She was making lunch, and she gave Roy a smile when she noticed him. "Lunch will be ready soon, the others are in the living room," Winry said, encouraging him to meet the others. She didn't question his actions, and Roy was glad of that. He liked Winry more and more every minute. Slowly, Roy started to walk towards living room.

Havoc, Fuery, Breda and Ed were gathered around a table which was covered by a large map. Breda was first to notice him. "General! We have some information about the explosives," he told to Mustang eagerly. They all tried their best to act like the outburst in the morning hadn't happened. It was like he had just taken a walk or something similar. But the heavy cloud from the morning was still there.

Roy nodded, and sat in the free chair next to Breda. If his men were willing to forget everything that had happened in the morning, he was more than happy to do the same. "Tell me what you have found out," Roy said, trying to keep his voice steady and firm. He had already sown too much weakness for one day.

"The explosives were going to the mine near Resembool. It's only two hours away. There haven't been any problems with the mine before, but we should still look into it," Breda said as he pointed to the place on the map. Roy nodded. "You're right. Even if the mine isn't involved, the owner might know something. At least he should know how many people knew that the train was transferring explosive materials. We should go for a visit," Roy said, eager to do something.

"I already called the owner and he said we could come tomorrow morning. He seemed to have an important meeting today and couldn't meet us right away," Breda added. Roy nodded again, even though he felt disappointed. It was smarter to arrange a meeting than just to storm in. But another day of waiting... He didn't know if he could wait a second more.

"Armstrong told me that the Fuhrer has granted you a week leave. He also told me that the Fuhrer said that if the General and his men aren't back after that, there will be some consequences," Havoc said carefully. Roy didn't say anything. It seemed like a fair deal, especially as he had left without a word. He had one week to find Riza, and he would find her, alive. The whole world could claim that she was dead, but he wouldn't believe. She had to be alive.

There wasn't much to do that evening, they hadn't gotten any other clues. Havoc, Ed and Breda played cards. Winry worked with her auto-mail when she wasn't in the kitchen. Fuery read some kind of mechanic book. They all tried to do their best to distract their thoughts. But Roy just couldn't focus on anything. He felt so tired, but couldn't really sleep. Finally, he left the house with Hayate and took him for a long walk.

They were out until the sun went down. Roy looked at how the dog ran around, once in a while he stopped and smelled something, and then ran again. He didn't seem to realize what was going on. Of course he had noticed that his master was away, but it didn't seem to bother him too much. Roy hoped for a second that he could be a dog. He wanted so badly to get rid of the tight feeling around his stomach. He wanted to forget all of his worries, just for a second. It felt like he couldn't breathe properly.

All these years he had been waiting for the day he could start his life with Riza. What if he had wasted all that time, and now he would get nothing? Was it really worth waiting for so long? She could have been his for years. But Roy knew that Riza would have never agreed with that. As cold as it was, the country always came first. She would never say yes before they had fulfilled their dreams. But Roy just hoped he could have both.

And it was still possible. He wouldn't give up. Riza had once promised not to die. She hadn't died on the promised day, and she sure as hell wasn't going to die now. She was strong. She had to survive. She had promised.

Next morning finally came. Roy had slept a little, his body had finally demanded some sleep. But he hadn't slept very long before he had been woken up by a nightmare. He had seen Riza lying in the ground, breathing hard. She was covered by blood, and had gasped for air. "Please, let me die," she had whispered before she closed her brown eyes. Roy gasped for air when he woke up. He couldn't sleep after that. Her being tortured, it was just too much to bear.

In the morning Roy, Havoc, Breda, Fuery and Ed all tried to fit in the car. Winry had wanted to come too, but Ed had convinced her that it was just a meeting. Winry had shook her head and said that she knew how Ed always got himself into a trouble. But finally she had given in when Ed had pointed out that there was no room left in the car. So once again, she just had to wait. Hayate barked sadly next to her. He wasn't happy to be left behind either.

The trip took them about two hours. Breda drove the whole way. The roads were in a good condition, especially for the deserted location. The landscape started to get plainer with every minute they drove. It was quite understandable because they weren't that far from a desert area. The trees and forest started to vanish and finally there wasn't anything else but sand and grass plants. It wasn't a place for people. Only because there was a mine, there was life.

They drove past warehouses and buildings, and finally reached the main building. The mine itself was little after the main building, digging deep into the grounds. The place was quite deserted, everyone was working. They parked their car next to the entrance and walked in. There was small waiting hall, where a secretary was working. When she noticed them, she hurried to welcome them.

"Good morning, you must be General Mustang. I'm very happy to see you, it isn't that often that we get such famous visitors!" the woman said cheerfully. She was young and lively woman, and seemed to have heard of Mustang's reputation. She acted like a school girl who had a crush, but Mustang didn't notice. He greeted her with short words and asked for the owner of the mine. The woman's smile faded fast when she realized he didn't respond to her behavior. She seemed offended, and let them into the office without any pleasantries.

The office was very nice, it had been renovated lately. The man they had come to visit greeted them as they walked in. Roy was a little surprised to see a man with long white hair and red eyes greeting him. After all these years he still felt a shot of quilt every time he met an Ishvalan. "Good morning General Mustang. I'm David Campbell, the owner of this mine. I heard that I could help you with something? Please, have a seat," David said, smiling politically. Roy smiled back and sat to the free chair opposite of David's desk. Breda stood in the door, and the rest sat in the free seats left.

"Yes, I had some questions about the explosives delivery that got destroyed in the train accident," Roy said. He sounded very politic, and didn't let a hint of emotion to show how important this was to him.

"Oh yes, that was really unfortunate. It was quite expensive drawback to us. And it's also a shame that so many died because of our delivery. We are trying to make everything as save as possible, but it seems that you can't prepare for everything! People do terrible things because of money. Just because someone wanted to steal our gold they killed so many people... People are cruel animals," David said, shaking his head. Roy couldn't help but notice the lightness in his voice when he talked about the victims. It was like that kind of things happened everyday.

"Yes, it seems that the gold was the reason for the accident, but now we have a reason to believe that there might be another motive for the accident," Roy said, trying to ignore how the money seemed to come first to this man.

"Oh really? I haven't heard anything of that," David said, looking interested.

"It's quite new information to us too. It seems that somebody was also planning to kill or kidnap someone from the army; the first Lieutenant who works under me. That's why we need to know how many people knew about the delivery," Roy said. David seemed surprised.

"So you mean that the robbery was just a cover story? It must have been well planned then. I'm afraid that I can't help you much. Many people knew about the delivery. For example all the workers in the mine and train... And then there are also the workers in the explosives factory in Central where we got those explosives. I don't really keep these kinds of things as a secret. I didn't know there was reason to do so," David said.

Roy could feel the hope disappear once more. This was their only clue and it didn't seem to lead anywhere. "You don't remember anyone who acted suspiciously?" Roy asked, running out of questions.

"I'm sorry sir, but I really don't remember any odd behavior. I can give a list of all my workers, but I doubt that will lead anywhere," David said plainly. Roy sighed. He had no idea what to do next.

But then somebody opened the door and almost hit Breda with it. Another Ishvalan came in, and he seemed very excited. "You'll never guess what we found, this will..." the man stopped in the middle of his sentence when he noticed that the room was full of people. He looked shocked at the sight. "What have I said about knocking? Wait outside, I have visitors!" David yelled angrily. The man nodded and started to back up, but then his eyes met Roy's.

Roy saw how the man's eyes went dark and narrowed as he stopped to stare at him. Roy lowered his eyes, he recognized that look well. Those were eyes of Ishvalan who's life he had ruined. He couldn't blame him. The man looked once more at David and then left. He slammed the doors a little bit too hard. An awkward silence was left behind.

"I'm sorry, most of my workers are old farmers, they don't have manners," David said and smiled. The smile was little too wide to be genuine. "Don't worry. Well, I guess we are leaving now, thanks for your time," Roy said and stood up.

"It was my pleasure," David said and led them outside. The man that had stormed in a second ago was sitting on a sofa of the waiting hall. He didn't seem excited any more, only angry. They exchanged some more goodbyes, and then walked outside towards the car.

"Am I the only one, or was that very odd?" Ed asked when the car started to move. Silence greeted him, but they all agreed. There was something very strange about this place.


	12. Tattoo

Just a little warning: I'm not a doctor, so I'm not sure how wounds and broken bones really affect to a person. I just have a slightest idea. So if any of my readers know medic stuff well, I hope my descriptions aren't horribly unrealistic! Or at least try not to focus on that too much! :D Thank you for reading, read and review!

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><p>Riza woke up, and hoped that instant that she hadn't. Her body was hurting everywhere. Every time she breathed she felt the aching pain of her shoulder. Riza closed her eyes tighter. She didn't really want to wake up, she had ruined everything. Her escape attempt had been a catastrophe. It had been her only chance and she had wasted it. With her current condition, there was no way she could escape again. She didn't have to see her leg to know that it was broken. "I'm sorry Roy," she whispered in her mind. There was no chance she could ever see him again.<p>

After a while she finally opened her eyes. She was lying on her stomach on the mattress. The same warehouse was around her, but there was no one to be seen. She tried to move her body, but gave up when she felt a sharp pain in her leg. There was nothing she could do, there was no strength left in her. She hated to feel so weak.

She was starting to feel little cold, maybe she had a little fever. She didn't really care if she had. Her chances of escaping were zero. She might as well die, she had no reason to live anymore. She had no intention to be here for years, being tortured and interrogated. But she might as well die comfortably. Riza used the strength left in her, and started to pull the blanket on top of her a little higher.

It was then when the realization hit her. Her stomach turned around and her heart started to beat faster. The wound on her shoulder had been tied. Her whole upper body was bare. And the conclusion of those things was devastating: They had seen the tattoo. Why had she escaped? Things had just turned for worse. If they would find out the secret to flame alchemy, she would never forgive herself. She hoped from the bottom of her heart that Roy had burned enough information.

The door opened and David, Bob and the man who had crushed her leg last night, walked in. Riza tried to pull the blanket even higher, but it didn't really matter. They already knew. Riza felt how cold shivers went down her spine when she saw David smiling. Why hadn't she made Roy burn it all?

"You have been keeping a great secret from us. We blamed your father and Mustang for flame alchemy, and all along you have been keeping the secret on your back. Was it your father who tattooed those markings on your skin? Or would your dear Mustang be so arrogant to do that kind of thing to you?" David said mockingly. Riza refused to answer. "I guess it was your father. From what we have heard, he lost his mind towards the end. You have one hell of a father to tattoo that kind of thing on his own daughter!" David said and laughed. Riza still said nothing. There was no point on denying the truth. There was no point in saying anything.

"Maybe we should take a look at the beautiful tattoo of yours. Bob, Mark," David said and nodded towards Riza. The two men walked towards her. She tried to cover herself up with the blanket, but it was a quite vain attempt. She only had one healthy hand and leg against two muscular men, and every move she made hurt like hell. The men pulled her easily out of the bed. Riza felt sharp pain in her shoulder when they pulled her up from her armpits, but she didn't yell. She just bit her lip, and did her best to endure. She had decided not to let the men know how much in pain she really was.

Bob and Mark held her in a standing position, keeping her up, even though she had just one leg to stand on. It surprised Riza that her leg was still pointing in an odd position, they had done nothing to it. Why had they bandaged her shoulder but had done nothing to her leg? It seemed they liked to keep her alive, but seemed to think her leg was useless.

Riza was happy that they had covered her front with the blanket, even though her back was bare and the tattoo was clearly visible. It was the only positive thing about all of this. "You were really right. There are clear alchemy markings here. It's a shame that the beautiful tattoo has been burned. It must have hurt even more than the making of the tattoo. Mustang, your lovely General must have done this to you..." David said, studying her tattoo. Riza shivered when she felt David's hand on her bare skin.

They seemed to think that Roy had done something terrible to her when he burned that tattoo. But to her, he had done a great service. It had been a relief to get rid of it. It had hurt, but it was nothing compared to the making of it. Roy had been as gentle as possible, and had refused to burn more than necessary. Now she hoped that Roy had burned it all. She was terrified of the slight chance that they could read it. But Roy had refused to burn it all, it had killed him inside to burn her skin. She knew that Roy had thought that he had done something terrible at the time, but now more than ever, she was glad he had done it.

"He has burned you, and still you protect him? He is some selfish bastard to burn the knowledge on your back just to have fire alchemy for himself. You have very twisted relationship you know... You give him everything and he gives you nothing. Hawkeye, you should start to think about yourself if you want to get out of here alive!" David said, shaking his head.

Riza started to laugh. Partly because she wanted to show them how little their words had impact on her, but mostly she laughed because they couldn't have been more wrong. Little did they know about everything he had done for her. Little did they know how much she loved him.

"What's so funny?" David said, still looking at her back. Riza didn't see him, but she could imagine his confused face. "You say that Mustang had burned me, and it's true, but I asked him to do it myself. He just protected me from the people like you! You will never find out the secret to flame alchemy! My father has died and Mustang will never tell anyone. The secret will die with me. You can keep me here forever and you can kill me, but you will never learn fire alchemy, and you will never succeed in killing Mustang. Your plan was a failure from the start," Riza said.

She knew she annoyed David and his men, but she didn't care. Part of her enjoyed it. And it was just better if they killed her sooner than later. She didn't want to be kept here for years, it was better to die now. There was no point of living anymore. Nobody was coming to save her. Nobody knew she was still alive.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I was you. We have a man who had studied alchemy for years. You may have burned some information, but I believe we are still able to find out the secret," David said smiling. He had walked around and was now facing her. Riza stared at him, and didn't flinch. He had said her fear out loud, but she wasn't going to let him know that.

"And when it comes to killing Mustang, it will be easy. In fact we are already on it; I sent two of my men to kill him. Without you it will be easy job. Just one bullet through his brain and the flame alchemist is dead. For all I know he might be dead right now," David said, smiling widely. Riza felt her heart skip a beat. No, he was quick, he would notice. But still, how many times had her reflexes saved him? And now she wasn't there to protect Roy. She closed her eyes and begged that Havoc, Fuery and Breda had listened when she had asked them to protect Roy. She might die, but she needed Roy to change this country. She needed to know that he would keep on living, even without her.


	13. Fire

Thank you once again for the reviews, they made me smile! :) I made a cover for this story, quite simple, just a flame from a picture I have taken years ago... but I like it simple and at least I have all rights to that picture :D

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><p>"Did you see how that man stared at Mustang? He looked like he could have jumped at Mustang's neck at any second!" Ed said as the car moved away from the mine. "He is an Ishvalan, he has the right to be angry at me," Roy said quietly. It always made him feel sad to see how little people's opinions of him had changed, even though he had spent years of making things right. But he knew that he could never bring back all those people he had burned alive.<p>

"Still it's odd how Campbell seemed to be fine with us and then that other guy came and looked like he could kill us all..." Ed said confused. Roy agreed with him. "Yes, I think that he just pretended to be happy to have us. He was a little too polite," Roy said, looking outside of the window. "But even if they do hate us, it doesn't tell much. More than half of Ishvalans hate me. And we don't have any clues that they had anything to do with Hawkeye," Roy said quietly and rubbed his head. Once again they were at the starting point.

The car went quiet. They all thought hard of what to do next. They all desperately wanted to find Riza, but they seemed to run out of clues. Who would want to kidnap Riza? It didn't really made sense. Of course she had killed many people in Ishval, and she was a quite-famous sniper, but still... There were so many others above her, so many others guiltier and more visible.

Roy was worried that her kidnapping had something to do with him. Everybody knew that Hawkeye was Mustang's adjutant, and that they worked together. And it was clear Ishvalans hated him, they had even tried to kill him twice in Ishval. It had seemed quite random at the time, and since both man denied that those two attempts had anything to do with each other, they had let it be. Maybe they should have studied those cases more. But at the time it had just seemed like something they couldn't avoid. It was just natural that some Ishvalans didn't understand that they only wanted to help.

But now he couldn't stop thinking that there might have been something bigger behind it. What if they had realized how important Riza was to him? What if they had took her to get to him? He would never forgive himself if he had caused this all to her.

Roy's thoughts were stopped by a sudden bang. For a second he thought that somebody had shot them. But then Breda, who was driving, cursed and stopped the shaking car. One of the tires had broken down suddenly. Breda got out from the car, looked at the tire, and cursed even more. "Somebody has left glass lying in the road! No wonder that the tire broke!" Breda yelled angrily. "General, I could use a little help."

Roy got up from the car. "I can fix it, but we still need a pump to fill it with air. I'm not good at that kind of alchemy; I can try, but I might overfill it and the tire might explode," Roy said as he looked at the flat tire. Breda sighed. "Alchemy is useless! Fuery, do we have a pump or a spare tire?" Fuery got up from the car and so did everyone else. It didn't seem that they were going anywhere any time soon.

As Fuery and Breda tried to find a pump or spare tire from the back, Roy clapped his hands and fixed the tire. It still felt a little odd to fix things without transmutation circles. The job was a little too easy now. He looked around and saw how the desert had started to change to a greener area. But there was still a long way ahead, and Roy hoped that they wouldn't have to walk.

In the mean time Havoc had lit up a smoke and looked bored. Ed sat in the back seat, wishing he could still do alchemy. He was sure that he could have succeeded in filling the tire.

Roy continued to study the area around them. Something caught his eyes between two big rocks near where the forest started; a glimmer of light. It was like there was a mirror or glass between the rocks. For a moment he thought that it reminded him of something and then he remembered; Ishval, war, snipers. The fear hit his stomach. "Everybody down!" he yelled and jumped to the ground.

His timing was perfect. Roy could almost feel how the bullet flew above his head. Others had looked confused towards Roy when he had yelled, but when they heard the shot they all jumped to the ground too. "What the hell!" Ed yelled, as they took cover behind the car. Another shot flew above them and one hit the car. Fuery peeked from behind the car to observe who was firing them. "It looks like there are two men. Or at least two guns. Should be easy to win!" Fuery said smiling.

Roy smiled too. His heart was beating fast, and he could feel the adrenaline. Finally something was happening. He put on his gloves, stood up from behind the car and snapped his fingers. The bolt of fire flew to the place where the shots had come from. It felt good to use some flame alchemy. It felt good to do something.

They could hear a yell and moaning. Fuery, Breda and Havoc stood up too and pointed their guns to the place. Nothing happened, so they started to move towards the place. Ed stood up too. He felt stupid without a gun and his powers, there was no way he could protect himself. "Do you have a spare gun? It feels stupid to have nothing," Ed murmured angrily. He felt like a child once more. Havoc laughed. "I don't think you need a gun anymore, Mustang finished those men for sure! They will be sorry for ruining my smoking break!"

Havoc was right. When they reached the rocks, they found two men, badly burned but still alive. Their guns had been made useless by the fire, and they were in too much pain to fight back anyway. They were both Ishvalans, with red eyes. One of them looked strangely familiar, but Roy just walked to the other one who was closer to him. He was blinded by anger and the need to act. Before the man even realized, Roy lifted him up from his collar, pushing him against the rock.

"Who are you? Why are you trying to kill me?" Roy yelled. The man winced from pain before he gathered his spirit and yelled back: "You are a murderer. I have the right to kill you and your fire!" The man's voice was full of hate. Roy ignored his words; he had heard them too many times before. "Somebody must have sent you, tell me who!" Roy yelled, raising the man a little higher. The man laughed.

"Do you really think that I would tell you? There are many of us and one day we will succeed! Soon we will know all your secrets!" the man said, smiling evilly. The words took Roy by a surprise. "What do you mean you will know my secrets?" Roy said, shaking the man. He had a bad feeling about this. "Soon we will fight against you with your own weapon! Some day we will burn you alive!" the man said, and laughed madly.

Roy stood still, his heart skipped a beat. "You can't mean..." he muttered, already afraid of the answer. But the man confirmed Roy's fear before he had even formed his question. "You are right, we have seen the tattoo, we have your pretty Lieutenant," the man said smiling. Roy felt like the man had just hit him. They had Riza. They knew her secret.

"Tell me where she is!" Roy yelled, pushing the man harder against the rock. They had her, and who knows what they had done to her... They had seen her tattoo... He felt so angry, he wanted to kill him that instant. But the man also knew where Riza was.

"I will never tell you where she is! And I'm afraid you won't get her back in one piece..." the man said, still smiling. Roy stared him, eyes wide. The nightmare Roy had seen the previous night rushed to his mind. His grip unfastened just a little bit.

The man saw that Roy was unfocused, and used his possibility. He didn't care about his burns or the pain, the need to revenge overdrove those feelings. Quickly he drew out a small knife from his pocket, and guided it towards Roy. He could almost already smell his blood, and he smiled at the thought that soon he would die.

But at the last minute, Roy saw what the man was trying to do. He had just enough time to pull himself away, so that the knife just made a small cut to his left arm. Roy lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. The man didn't give up; he was prepared to another strike. But before his hit fell to its target, Roy's instincts got the best of him. He felt angrier than he had felt since the promised day, and all his fears flashed in his mind. This man had hurt Riza, he was part of this. Before he even realized, he snapped his fingers. The smile on man's face never had time to fade.


	14. Giving up

Thank you for the thousand time for the reviews :) This is little short, but hopefully you like it anyway!

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><p>They had made her stand for hours. David had left after his threat to kill Mustang, and was replaced by a gray haired man. To Riza's surprise he wasn't Ishvalan, just a normal old Amestrisian man. This thing seemed to go deeper than Riza had thought. But she didn't have the strength to give the idea more thought than that.<p>

The man had started to draw the tattoo from her back. It had taken forever. She had fallen in and out of consciousness, her body hurt like never before. Her shoulder was on fire, and her leg throbbed from pain. If Bob and Mark hadn't held her up, she would have fallen to the ground. At some point they had given her a little water, but it was all they did to ease her pain. They wanted to make her suffer. Finally the man had been ready and Bob and Mark had thrown her to the mattress. Riza had yelped from a pain, and fallen into the darkness for hours.

Finally Riza woke up once more. She wasn't feeling that good. Her shoulder had started to bleed once again. It was no wonder after they had pulled her around like that. Riza wasn't sure why they had even tied it in the first place. They seemed to want to keep her alive, but they did a poor job with it. Maybe she could live longer with a broken leg, but the bleeding wound would kill her soon.

She felt cold, even thought she had a blanket around her. Somebody had even put a shirt on her, but it didn't stop her from shivering. The fever was getting even higher, there really seemed to be some kind of infection. Well, at least she probably was dying sooner than later.

Riza's thoughts focused on Roy. What if they had really succeed in killing Roy? No, that couldn't be. He had his flames, and it wasn't even raining. There was nothing to worry about. But Riza couldn't help but to think that all it would take was one bullet. One bullet and it was all over. Their dreams, his life. The images of him dying ran through her mind. She had almost lost him so many times. And almost every time she had saved him. But now she wasn't there to protect him, and it scared her more than anything.

Riza had lost a track of time. It had been morning when she had realized that they had seen the tattoo, but she didn't know how long she had been out. Maybe it was still the same day, maybe another. She didn't know. And it didn't really matter. Days has lost their meaning, all that was left was to wait till the time she had left came to the end. The blood slowly drained out of her.

After a while David came in angrily. Bob was guarding her, even thought she wasn't going anywhere in her condition. "It didn't work. Those idiots. I said it was too early! They must be burned by now, or even worse, caught alive... We should change her location just in case," David said to Bob in hushed voices.

But Riza heard them anyway, and a smile formed to her lips. She knew exactly who they were talking about: They hadn't killed him. And they never would. His flames had always protected him, there was no one who could match him. And Havoc, Breda and Fuery were there to help. They would look after Roy, they would help him focus on his goal. He would move on, he would have to. He would survive without her.

The only thing that worried her still was the tattoo. Was it really possible they could figure it out? It was the only way they could ever beat Mustang. Was fate so cruel that Mustang would die because his heart had been too reluctant to burn her? But that fate wasn't in her hands anymore. She could only hope for the best.

After David had spoken with Bob, he looked at Riza. Riza looked away, he didn't want to talk to the man, there was nothing to say. She just wanted to die so this all could end. She curled under the blanket, but couldn't help shivering from the cold. David's face turned from angry to a worried expression. He took a couple of steps towards her, and touched her forehead. She wanted to throw his hand away from her skin, but she didn't have the energy. David moved his hand quickly away.

"She has fever! You should keep her alive you idiot!" David yelled to Bob, who got up from his place. He too touched her forehead, and flinched. "I'm sorry sir, I didn't notice!" he said as he pulled his hand away. David moved Riza's blanket a little to reveal the blood soaked bandage in her shoulder. He looked worried.

Riza didn't really fight back, she didn't have the strength anymore. Figures had started to get hazy. "I will get a doctor. You keep an eye on her. And if she dies, it's all your fault!" David said and left the warehouse in a hurry. Bob looked at her worried. "You have to keep on living! We haven't stopped on asking questions yet! David will never forgive me if I let you die!" he yelled desperately.

Riza smiled. She understood Bob's worries. David didn't seem like a man that took drawbacks well. And even thought Bob wanted to see her in pain, she doubted that the man really understood what it meant to kill someone. He had been in Ishval, but his eyes didn't look like the ones of a killer; instead his eyes reflected fear. Maybe it triggered some memories of Ishval in him too. The nightmares were probably the same for both of them.

But Riza had no intention to do like Bob had asked. There was only one man she listened, and he wasn't here. She had done like he had asked for most of her adult life. That same man had once made her a promise not to die. That same man had once promised to be hers one day. But he wasn't here now. He already thought she was dead. So it didn't really matter anymore. All of those promises had been let down. The only one she would listen to now was herself. And her body yelled for sleep, begged her to give up. She didn't have to fight anymore, the battle was finally over. She closed her eyes.


	15. Plan

I'm very sorry for not updating in a while! My beta reader (thank you for yourlifeinwords!) has been really busy, and I really want her to proof read these chapters. Nobody would read this story without her, my English isn't the best! (you can see it from these author notes, which haven't been proof read ;) ) But hopefully you're still reading, enjoy! :)

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><p>It all seemed to happen in slow motion. When Ed had seen the knife, he had tried to yell to warn Roy, but he had noticed it before Ed had time to open his mouth. The knife had hit Roy, but just barely. Still it had been enough to make Roy lose his balance and fall to the ground. Breda had been ready to shoot the man before he had time to attack Roy once again. But Roy had been faster.<p>

Ed watched horrified at how Mustang burned the man. Even if it had been just self-defense, it was little too much. It reminded Ed about the time when Mustang had hunted Envy, wanting to revenge Hughes's death. The man had deserved it; he had tried to kill Mustang again. But burning him to death wasn't the answer. It didn't bring Riza back; in fact it only made the chances to find her even slimmer.

They all stared at the burned corpse in front of them. The smell of burnt flesh was heavy in the air, and made Ed feel nauseous. Roy was first to move, he got up from the ground and moved towards the other man. His eyes were on fire, and Ed realized that he wasn't thinking straight anymore. The words the man had said had upset him clearly. And when that man had pulled his knife out, it had drove Roy over the edge.

"Roy, stop! You can't kill them, we will never find Riza if you do!" yelled Ed angrily, trying to stop Mustang. Roy was blinded by anger. Some part of him wanted to burn the other man alive too, make him suffer for what he had done to Riza. He hadn't meant to kill the man, but when he had seen him drawn out a knife, he had lost it. It had felt good to burn the man, to see him suffer. And now he wanted revenge, he wanted to make the other man suffer too.

But Ed's words brought back a memory of Riza holding a gun on him, ready to fire. Ready to kill him because he had let himself get blinded by revenge. And there he was again, blinded by that same hate. He hadn't learned anything. Riza would have shot him on the spot.

Roy stopped right in front of the man, slowly lowering his hand that had been ready to snap and burned the man seconds ago. It was then when he realized why the man looked so familiar; He was the same man who had ran into the office and looked at Mustang with murdering eyes.

"You..." Roy mumbled perplexed. Ed, Havoc, Breda and Fuery all gathered around him. They all had been so distracted by Roy's outburst that they hadn't realized it earlier either. The man said nothing; he just stared at Mustang and others, looking like he wanted to kill them all.

Roy had no idea how the man had time to come here so quickly, but he didn't really care. There was only one question he needed to ask. "Where is she?" Roy asked, feeling the hate gather in him once more. But he wouldn't let it get the best of him again. He would control his emotions for Riza's sake. She wouldn't be happy when she would hear what he had done. But there was no time for regrets, not now.

The man kept silent. If Roy hadn't heard him speak in Campbell's office, he would doubt that he could even talk. "It doesn't seem like he is going to speak," Breda said looking at the silent man. Roy felt frustrated. It seemed that the man really believed in his cause. They didn't have time for this. It had sounded that Riza was in danger, and she needed them fast. They had no time to break the man.

"We don't have time for this. We should go to the mines and search more. There clearly is some connection between Hawkeye's kidnapping and the mine," Roy said, looking at the man, searching for some kind of reaction to his words. But the man didn't move an inch. "I agree with that, sir, but we should at least wait for it to be dark. We can't just walk in there without a plan, there are too many buildings and warehouses to search," Fuery said. Of course Fuery was right once again, but Roy didn't want to wait anymore. Not now that they had a clue to follow. "And maybe we should go and take Black Hayate with us, his sense of smell could narrow our search," Fuery added.

"That's a good plan. Let's get back to Rockbell's house. And as we wait for darkness we can question the man more. Maybe we can get more information out of him," Breda said. Roy nodded his head in agreement, even though he didn't like the idea of wasting more precious time. But he didn't have a choice.

Ed hadn't said anything in a while. He was making sure Roy didn't do anything stupid. Ed was a little worried that Roy would lose his mind again; he still seemed a little jumpy. It worried Ed that Riza wasn't even dead yet, but still Roy was acting like this... But Ed had also heard how Roy had poured his heart out to Winry. Maybe it wasn't so weird how Roy was acting. Ed would go crazy if somebody kidnapped Winry.

"But before we can go anywhere, we have to do something about the body and we need to refill the tire," Breda said. They all looked to the burned man couple of meters from them. He's features were gone; he was just a burned corpse. "I will bury him. It's my burden," Roy said quietly, regretting what he had done already. He needed to take responsibility for his actions. "I will help," Havoc said. Roy nodded, he was glad to have help. Fuery and Breda went to fix the car.

"General, what did that man mean when he said that he knew your secret and had seen the tattoo?" asked Havoc to Mustang after they had buried the corpse. They were sitting next to the fresh grave and Havoc had lit another smoke to replace the one he had lost in action. Breda and Fuery stopped their work with fixing the car; they wanted to hear the answer too. Ed also turned his gaze towards Roy and listened carefully. He had heard years ago how Riza had spoken about destroying the flame alchemy and herself with it, but he hadn't really understood what she had meant. There had been so much going on at the time that he had let it be.

"I guess you have the right to know..." Roy said quietly, looking at the grave to avoid everybody's eyes. It was hard to tell a story that he had kept as a secret for so long. But these were man he trusted, they deserved to know. They all had helped him and Hawkeye along the years. And they already kind of knew. So he decided to tell them everything.

"As some of you know, Berthold Hawkeye taught me alchemy. He was the only man who knew the secret of flame alchemy, but he never told me how to use it. I was never good enough to learn it, and when I went to join Military he started to regret he had ever taught me anything. Berthold Hawkeye hated everyone in Military, I have no clue why. But after he had died, the Lieutenant showed me her father research. First I thought she was going to show me some papers, but it seemed that Mr. Hawkeye had thought it was too risky to write his research on paper," Roy explained, and took a deep breath before saying his next words: "Her father had tattooed his research on her back."

All the others stared him with disbelief. Riza had always been a little cold, distant and she had never talked about her family. But it all seemed to make sense now. Who would talk about a father like that? It was hard to believe that somebody would do that to their daughter. But Berthold Hawkeye never really thought about Riza as his daughter. The only thing the man had seemed to love was his studies.

"So now it seems that they have seen Hawkeye's tattoo..." Roy said. It disgusted him to even think how they had found out about the tattoo. The only good thing was that the tattoo wasn't whole anymore. It was the first time that he was happy that Riza had asked him to burn it. She was always wiser than him.

"Do you mean that they can also use flame alchemy now?" Havoc asked, confused about all the information. The thought that somebody else could use flame alchemy, terrified him. He didn't want to see it in wrong hands.

"No, I seriously doubt it. After Ishval, Hawkeye asked me to burn the tattoo, so nobody could read it. I did what she asked, and burned the most important parts of the tattoo. I didn't have heart to burn it all, but it shouldn't be possible to read it anymore," Roy explained. He kept his eyes on the ground; he didn't want to meet anybody's eyes. He didn't want them to judge him for what he had done. It had been Riza's wish, but he still felt like a monster for doing it.

There was a silence among them. Nobody knew what to say. Ed had known that there was a long history behind Mustang and Hawkeye, but he hadn't ever imagined anything like that. Neither had Havoc, Breda or Fuery. They were all confused about the history their General and Lieutenant shared. So they did what they did best, they kept on going. In silence they fixed the car and moved on with the plan.

They reached Resembool at afternoon. Winry ran in to Ed's arms as soon as he had got out of the car. It seemed that she had been waiting for a long time for them to arrive. "Where have you been? I didn't know you were going to be away for this long!" Winry said as she hugged Ed tightly. Hayate barked happily at them. He seemed also glad that everyone was back. "We had a little accident on the road and our tire broke down," Ed explained, trying to calm Winry down.

"We also brought a souvenir!" Havoc said smiling widely while he opened the back trunk. Winry yelled with amazement when he saw a man stuffed in the back. He didn't seem happy at all. "What the hell is going on?" Winry asked confused.

It took most of the evening to explain to Winry what had happened, and what they were planning. Once again she wanted to come with them, but this time Ed used their prisoner as an excuse as to why Winry had to stay. "You are driving me crazy! Even Hayate can come, but I have to stay here with that mute man!" Winry complained and didn't speak to anyone for the rest of the evening.

When the night finally came, they all went back to the car once more; Hayate was on Fuery's lap. Winry hugged Ed tightly before she let him to get in the car, but she didn't say anything. "So hugs are fine but you are not going to speak to me?" Ed said smiling. Winry said nothing, just grinned at him. She was angry at him, but she also knew that it was dangerous what they were planning to do. And she didn't want to leave Ed without a hug in case something would happen.

Roy had been awfully silent that evening too. He couldn't stop thinking about the man he had burned, his voice echoed in his ears. Was Riza hurt? What had they done to her? It scared him that they had seen the tattoo. Nobody had seen it before expect him and Riza's father. And he couldn't stop thinking that it was kind of his fault that Riza had been kidnapped. It was just like he had feared; they wanted to kill him and she was a tool to succeed in that. All her suffering was his fault. Would she ever forgive him? He certainly wasn't going to forgive himself.

Roy hoped with all his heart that he could make things right. Was it too much to ask to have a little happiness? Was it too much to ask to finally get rid of the past of Ishval? It seemed like faith was trying to destroy every hope he had. For years he had tried to make things right in Ishval, but it didn't seem enough. Nothing would ever fix that. But maybe, just maybe he would be able to save Riza. She was his reason to live. And if it wasn't for flame alchemy, she wouldn't be in trouble. In his heart he promised not to use flame alchemy ever again, if he just could get Riza back.


	16. Blood and guns

Wow. I just realised I have over 60 reviews. You have no idea how happy that makes me! :D Thank you so much! And please keep them coming ;)

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><p>They reached the mines after sunset. The place looked deserted, just darkness and silence was present. There was no one around, all the workers had left for home. They had left the car a little outside of the mine, behind a couple of rocks. They didn't want to be seen. If they wanted to find Riza, they would have to do it quietly. It was obvious that they didn't want to let her go willingly. Her life was in danger and they wanted to kill Roy too. Things were starting to get more and more dangerous.<p>

Roy's heart was beating fast. There was something seriously odd in this place. Part of him feared that they were walking in to some kind of trap, it was too quiet. But the though that in some of these buildings they might find Riza, kept him going. They needed to find her; it didn't matter if he would get in trouble in the process. But there were so many warehouses and buildings that it was hard to choose where to start.

Hayate looked curiously around the area. He could sense the excitement, something was happening. Roy kneeled beside Hayate and looked deep to the dog's eyes. "We're counting on you boy. Find Hawkeye!" Roy said to the dog, hoping it would somehow understand. The dog gave a bark, which echoed in the deserted mine. Then he started to move. Somehow he seemed to understand what Roy meant, or maybe he had already found the smell of his master. Hayate lead the group forward, his nose was almost touching the ground.

As they walked forward, it started to worry Roy more and more that they didn't see anyone. It was normal to have a couple of guards in such a big mine, to make sure nobody stole anything. And if Hawkeye was here, there should have been even more guards. "This is odd. Where are guards? Something is seriously wrong," Ed muttered quietly, saying aloud Roy's thoughts. Nobody answered him, but they all were cautious. The silence scared them more than the action.

Finally Hayate stopped in front of the door to one warehouse. He turned around and looked at Roy. Roy could feel the adrenaline pumping in his veins. Behind that door might be Riza. He nodded silently, and waved to others to come closer. He was planning to make a hole where the door was, it was easier and faster than opening the lock and then the door. Havoc, Breda, and Fuery took their guns off the holsters. Ed stayed behind the others, cursing once more that he couldn't use alchemy any more. Roy clapped his hands and transmuted a hole in the wall.

They all had expected something to happen as they rushed in, but there was nothing. Nobody was there. Roy cursed aloud as he realized the place was empty. Once again they had been mislead. Once again they didn't find Riza. Roy yearned for action; he wanted so much for at least something to happen.

But then Hayate whined and caught Roy's attention. In front of Hayate was a mattress, which seemed a bit off at the empty warehouse. As Roy walked closer, his heart sank. He didn't want to believe his eyes when he saw that the mattress was half covered by red liquid. Roy knelled on the floor, and touched it. There was no doubt; it really was blood.

Roy felt panic attack him. If Hayate had lead them here, the blood had to be Riza's. The images rushed to his mind so quickly that he felt ill. What had they done to her? Where was she now? The fear that he was too late rushed to his mind and he felt he couldn't breathe. This couldn't be happening.

The others had come to see what had caught the dog's attention and now stood around Roy. "Is that blood?" Fuery said, afraid of the worst. Nobody answered him, because they all saw that it was. And they all knew that it meant that Riza was in a bad shape, if she still was alive. There was a silence as they all felt defeated for a second. Finally Roy stood up and put his hands in a fist. "We are not going to give up just yet! We still have to find Hawkeye!" The others nodded. It was too soon to give up.

And as they stood there thinking about their next move, they heard Hayate growling. They all fell silent and listened. They could hear voices outside; someone was definitely walking beside the warehouse. And soon he would realize that there was a hole next to the door. They had to act fast. Whoever was outside might know something about Hawkeye. And even if he didn't, he probably wouldn't be happy to find three men roaming around.

Mustang acted fast. He waved to the others to follow, and silently walked to the door. Hayate walked right beside him, head low, ready to attack. Mustang waited at the door, listening to how the steps got closer. Havoc, Breda and Fuery had drawn their guns out once more. Mustang could feel his heart beat faster. Then he heard how the steps stopped as the man noticed a hole in the wall.

Mustang jumped out quickly, and hit the man to the ground before he realized what had happened. Breda pointed his gun to the man's head, even thought the man couldn't move anymore. The man was on his stomach, hands behind his back. Roy was holding him tight to the ground, using a bit too much force than was necessary.

"Who are you?" Roy asked from the Ishvalan man, who they hadn't seen before. "You can call me a man whose family you have burned. You don't need to know more!" the man yelled angrily. Roy sighed. He was getting tired of hearing that.

"Where is Hawkeye? If you want revenge, you should get that from me, not from her!" Roy continued, desperate to get some answers. The man laughed. "She's as guilty as you are; she killed almost as many people as you! And that tattoo of hers is the reason to all our misery! And now that we know her secret, we are going to burn her alive as well as you!" Roy didn't know what to say. In one level he knew that it wasn't possible, but a part of him was still afraid. There was always if.

Roy didn't have time to think of how to respond. There was more noise coming from the road in front of the warehouse. It was definitely a car coming closer. The man took a worried glance toward the noises, and Roy knew someone involved was coming.

"Fullmetal, come here and keep this man immobile. I have more important work," Roy said. Ed looked a little hurt. "Right, I'm not useful anymore, I am as good as rope!" Ed murmured, but did what he was told anyway.

"It's getting closer, but I can't see how many are inside because of the bright headlights," Breda said as he watched the car getting closer. They could see the car coming nearer with every moment. There was no such time to develop a plan.

Roy thought of ways to stop the car, his flames were too dangerous for that purpose. He might as well explode the whole car. "Fuery, Havoc, shoot the tires when they are about thirty feet away from us," Roy said as he came to a conclusion that was the best way to act. They needed to stop the car, but they didn't want to hurt the people inside. They needed their information. Fuery and Havoc nodded.

Roy concentrated as the car came nearer. Just a little more and they would get it. They had to act fast to take the men out before they had time to fight back. There was a good chance someone inside the car knew where Riza was, and they didn't want to miss that chance. The man under Ed looked worried, and hopefully for a good reason.

Havoc and Fuery took their aim, and fired. Their aim wasn't as good as Hawkeye's, but there was no chance they would miss their target so close even in the dark. Roy and his men started to run to the car as soon as they heard the tires brake. They had just one chance.

They almost succeeded. But the people in the car had seemed to wait for some kind of attack. The yell was heard before Mustang and his men had reached the car. And what the man said made them all stop. "Stay away or I will kill Hawkeye!" Mustang stared in horror as the man who had yelled came out of the car. His gun was pointing inside the car. The man looked awfully familiar, long blond hair, tall, red eyes... It was David Campbell, the owner of the mine. Roy used all his power to keep himself from burning the man at that instant.

For a moment Roy hoped that Campbell was bluffing. But then he pulled somebody out of the car to the ground. Roy felt his heart sink as he saw Riza. She was just a shadow of her normal self; it took Roy a moment to realize it really was her. Roy had known that she would probably be badly hurt, but the sight still shocked him. He could see how her shoulder was soaked in blood, even though it was covered with bandages, and her leg was pointing in a position that left no doubt about its condition. Riza was barely conscious, and didn't seem to register the world around her.

He wanted to run to her, bury her in his arms, and carry her away from here. But instead he just stood still. His every move could upset the man, and he could never live with himself if he would be the reason that killed Riza. So he just stood still and looked at the gun, that pointed directly to the only woman he had ever loved.


	17. Shot

Thank you for the reviews once again! :) I'm updating this story as fast as I can ;) And I'm sorry for the cliff hangers, I guess I just love to end my chapters with those! :D

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><p>Everything was hazy. Riza went in and out of consciousness, the fever was getting higher. She didn't really care to fight back. She wanted all of this to be over. But her kidnappers didn't give up so easily. There had been a lot going on around her; people were walking around her, speaking in loud voices. But she didn't really register what they did or spoke. She remembered how someone had lifted her up and moved her to somewhere, maybe a car? She had heard an engine humming. Then they had carried her out of the car and there had been another man. She remembered a dull pain in her shoulder as the man had done something to it.<p>

Then there had been another pair of hands which had lifted her back in to the car. She had wanted to sleep and never wake up; she wanted to get rid of the pain. But then something had happened. She heard a loud bang, and she felt the car shaking. There had been some yelling and finally a silence. Riza tried to open her eyes; she wanted to know what was happening. This didn't feel like something that the kidnappers had planned. But her eyelids felt too heavy to open.

Somebody pulled her out of the car. She felt how her tired body hit the ground violently, but only a soft moan escaped her lips. She felt the silence around her, which felt odd after all that noise. Something really was happening. She tried her best to focus; somewhere deep inside her she knew this was important. She needed to open her eyes.

But before she gathered enough strength to open her eyes, she heard something she thought she would never hear again. A man was speaking; his voice was cold, professional. She didn't hear what he said, or didn't register the meaning of the words. But she did recognize the voice and it made her heart beat faster. Could it really be him? She had thought that she would never hear that voice again. She forced her eyes to open.

Riza looked around her, and saw people a couple of feet away. But her eyes seemed to focus on just one man. His figure was familiar, but instead of his normal uniform he was wearing casual and worn clothes. But Riza could have recognized that messy, dark hair and those fiery black eyes anywhere. "General..." she muttered quietly, doubting her own words. Was she dreaming?

But as she said that, Riza saw how the man instantly looked at her, and all that coldness in his eyes melted away. It definitely was Roy, she wasn't hallucinating. He knew she was alive. He had come for her. She felt how the will to live rushed to her veins in the same moment her eyes met his. But this wasn't over yet, she hadn't been saved yet. She could see it in his eyes, the sadness and the fear that was there for a moment. But then somebody started to speak, and the coldness came back instantly.

"Yeah, that's your dear General! And if he wants to keep you alive, he is going to listen to me carefully!" The words finally started to make sense to Riza when she did her best to focus. The voice belonged to David, Riza could hear that now. And as she looked to him, she saw a gun pointing at her. This really wasn't over yet. Once again, she was being used to blackmail Roy.

Riza wanted to yell Mustang to not obey, to let her die if he must. For a second she hoped she would already be dead. It would have made things easier for Roy. There were more important things than her life. Mustang had so many goals to reach. Riza could only hope that he didn't let her motions run over his head and do something stupid.

"What do you want?" Roy said, and his voice sounded professional once again. But Riza saw the anger on his face. "Isn't that obvious? I want you dead, I want to burn you with your own power," David answered. His eyes were glistening with revenge. "We have two of your men as a captive. If you want them back, you might reconsider your wishes," Roy responded. Riza would have smiled to that if she had the strength. They seemed to have done a pretty good job, even without her.

But David's answer wasn't what Roy seemed to hope for. David laughed loudly and Riza shivered. The man was mad, there was no way Mustang could talk his way out of this. Riza could only hope Roy had some backup plan. "Do you really think I care about what happens to my men? They were idiots and betrayed me the instant they got caught. And their only goal was to kill you too, they don't mind if they sacrifice their lives in the process."

Roy looked like he had lost his words, but he was defended by another familiar voice. "Are you stupid? Why do you want to kill someone who had fought for your rights, who has tried to make things better? Do you realize that all that has been gained could be lost if you kill Mustang? There might be another conflict, and in the end your own people would hate you for ruining everything," said Breda, who was standing right behind Roy. It was the first time Riza noticed him, and now as she looked more closely, there was Havoc and Fuery too. Fuery was holding the collar of a small dog, no other than her Black Hayate. The dog was growling, and if Fuery hadn't held him, he would have attacked.

They were all there. Riza felt her heart ache. She wouldn't have wanted to cause so much trouble; they were all in danger because of her. But she couldn't help being glad that the team had taken her words so seriously. They had really looked after Roy. And Breda's words could have easily come from her mouth too; he had said exactly the right words.

But David didn't want to listen to Breda. "You are the one that has been fooled! You believe your General without a second thought. He has burned thousands of people! He is fooling you all to have what he wants: power. And one day when Mustang is in trouble, he wouldn't mind burning children, woman, or even you to save his own back!" David yelled. He was starting to get frustrated. His eyes were wide with anger and madness.

Riza knew there was no way to talk David out of this. Riza hoped they were planning something. David was just a one man, surely the flame alchemist and his three men could win against him? But the gun was pointed at her, and Riza knew how powerful tool that was.

"If you think I would kill my men to save my own back, you couldn't know me any less. The only goal I have is to make this country a democracy so that people could live as equals! I don't want power to myself," Roy said angrily, trying to make David understand.

David seemed to get frustrated by the situation. His aim was a little off now. If Riza had been healthy, she probably would have used the possibility to disarm David. But she was far from fine. It was hard enough to keep her eyes open. She wasn't a threat to anyone.

"So you're lying to yourself! If you would really care for your subordinate, you would lower you gun and hand yourself to me!" David said and looked at Roy like he wanted to make sure that he understood that he was the cause for everything. Then David continued smiling: "But now she will die and so will you all."

Riza froze. What did he mean by that? There was no way the man could kill them all with one gun. Had she lead them to a trap? Riza looked at Roy and saw his confused face. He too seemed to have no idea what the man was planning to do.

"I can see fear in your eyes Flame Alchemist! Good, you should be afraid. I have a man in the darkness who has revealed the secret of flame alchemy. For hours we studied what you had tried to hide by burning your Lieutenant. And finally we found out what was behind the burnt flesh. Just a word from me and he will burn you all!"

And as David said that, Riza saw how he took a radiophone out of his pocket, smiling widely. He still pointed his gun at her when he mouthed one single word: "Fire!" Fear hit Riza, she had ruined everything. Because of her tattoo, they would all die. But she didn't feel the flames; instead Riza heard a shot being fired. In that moment a thought rushed to her mind: She was going to die.


	18. Useless

I have to say it once again: million thanks for your kind reviews :) And thank you once again for my lovely beta reader afinedenouement (still the same one, just chanced her name! :D )! There might be a while before I can update this story again, but I will do it as quickly as I can!

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><p>Ed was tired of being so damn useless. He hadn't been able to defend Mustang or even himself when those men had tried to kill Mustang. And now the only thing he was good at was holding the man down. He felt his anger rise. He wanted to be useful like everybody else. It was times like these when he really missed alchemy. Not that he ever would regret his choice, but he still missed the power.<p>

Everybody else had gone to stop the car. Ed could see them from a little further away, but didn't hear their voices. The man under him tried to get out of his grip when he saw that the car had stopped, but Ed was faster. He might be small and weaker than the man, but he had brains. With a quick move he lifted the man's head and then hit it to the ground. The man yelped before he was knocked unconscious. Ed smiled a little when he saw the man on the ground. At least he didn't have to hold him down anymore.

Ed looked back in the car's direction. He saw a man beside the car with gun in his hand. The gun was pointing directly to a thin woman on the ground with blond messy hair and bloodstains on her clothes. It was Riza, looking so vulnerable that Ed almost didn't believe his eyes. She didn't look good, even though Ed couldn't see her well. There was only one reason as to why Riza was lying at the ground and not fighting back: She had to be badly hurt.

Something had to be done. The man was pointing his gun at Riza, and knowing Mustang, he was too worried about her to function properly. It was kind of ironic that Roy was so worried about his bodyguard, even though their relationship was much more. Ed also doubted that Fuery, Breda and Havoc had any ideas how to act too, since they were over there and their every move could kill Riza. Any deals that the kidnapper had to offer were probably out of question; they seemed too eager to kill Mustang. And even if Ed thought that Roy was quite annoying at times, he didn't want to see him dead.

There was only one solution: Him. The man beside the car didn't know he existed. The darkness of the night covered him. It seemed that the man was fully focused on Mustang and his men, which made him easy to surprise. Of course there was always a possibility that he had some back-up, but Ed had to try something. He wasn't going to let Riza die. He cared for her too much to let her die without trying to do something. Winry would get mad when she would find out that he had done something this risky once again. But he had to try to do something.

First Ed tied the unconscious man with a rope he had found in the man's pocket. He tried to avoid thinking that the same rope had probably been used to tie Riza at some point. Then he started to move towards the car, taking a little detour behind a couple of warehouses. He had just one chance to take the man down, and he didn't have any kind of weapons beside his body and his brain. Surprise was his only opportunity, and he wouldn't waste it with revealing himself.

But as he was getting nearer, he heard noises, nothing big, just the scratching of the ground. It seemed to come from behind the small warehouse just twenty feet from the car. As he slowly went closer, he saw a man drawing a transmutation circle. He seemed shaky, like he was doing something he didn't want to do. Ed knew that instant that he was up to no good.

He looked at the car, and saw how the man pointing his gun at Riza was laughing. It was then when he realized that he had seen the man before. It was David Campbell, the owner of the mine. Ed wasn't really surprised. He had known that there was something off with the man. Now he looked almost insane as he laughed. The situation seemed to get even worse. Ed had to act fast.

Ed took a rock from the ground and moved closer to the man drawing the circle. The man was still nervous, out of focus. He seemed to be easy target. The man wasn't Ishvalan like all the others had been. He had gray hair and seemed to be around his fifties. He was quite tall, but he didn't look very powerful. Ed was sure that the man had never been in a fight in his entire life. Maybe that was why he was so nervous. Ed almost felt bad when he silently walked behind the man and knocked him out. It was almost too easy.

When the man had tumbled to the ground Ed started to examine the transmutation circle. Ed was a little surprised that it was meant to move liquid, but then he saw a canister next to the man. It smelled like gasoline. What was he trying to do with these? The answer was there when he found a lighter from the man's pocket next to a radiophone. Ed felt his stomach turn. He looked to the direction of car, and understood now that his timing had been perfect. The man had been planning to burn Mustang.

Ed felt rush of anger hit him as he realized that. Of course they hadn't had a clue how to use flame alchemy. They had just tried to pretend like they did. And burning Mustang with something, even if it wasn't flame alchemy, seemed to satisfy their need for revenge. But that wasn't going to happen anymore. The man David seemed to rely on had been taken down.

Now he just needed to take David out. It didn't seem too hard, as he was distracted by Mustang and his men. He wasn't even pointing his gun directly at Hawkeye anymore. David seemed to have no clue that his plan wasn't going as well as he thought. But things were still risky. One mistake from him, and Hawkeye would get shot. But there was no other way. This was their only chance.

Ed didn't have time to tie the man, but he had got quite a massive hit so it didn't seem likely that he was going to wake up anytime soon. But just to be save, Ed took his gun, radiophone and lighter with him. He didn't want to take the chance that the man would wake up and warn David, shoot them or worse: make their plan into action.

The gun felt odd in his hand, he had never shot anyone. When he had his alchemy, there was no need to use a gun. And after he had lost his ability, there hadn't been need for fighting. But now it seemed like a perfect weapon to immobilize David and save Hawkeye. Ed cursed that he had never learned how to aim with it well. If he just could shoot David in his arm, and get his grip off from his gun it would be easy to defeat him.

Luckily the distance between them wasn't really long. Surely even he would be able to fire well enough from this distance? And even if he missed, he hoped that the act itself would distract David enough so he could attack him and take him out. The only thing that scared him was that David would shoot Hawkeye the instant he heard the gun being fired. But it was the risk he had to take. It was a fact he would have to live with for the rest of his life.

Ed aimed his gun at David's hand. He didn't want to kill the man, not even after all he had done. Carefully, he walked a little closer until he was at the edge of the warehouse, just enough in the darkness that nobody realized he was there, but close enough that the aiming was easy. There were just ten feet to the man. He could hear them speaking now.

"And finally we found out what was behind the burned flesh. Just a word from me and he will burn you all!" David said smiling. Ed smiled too. Little did the man know that his man was lying unconscious. Ed took his aim and fired his gun for the first time in his life just seconds after David yelled to his radiophone: "Fire!"

All seemed to move in slow motion. Ed could almost see how the bullet flew through the air and finally hit David's shoulder. The gun fell to the ground at that instant. Ed run out of the shadows and tackled David to the ground. The man seemed shocked and used his last card as he was lying on the ground, Ed's gun pointing at his head. "Put that gun down or my man will burn you at this instant!" he screamed angrily. He didn't seem to understand that the game was over. "Like hell he will!" Ed said and knocked the man out with the back of his gun.


	19. Fighting

Here we go again, please enjoy! :) And thank you for reading!

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><p>Roy heard a gunshot and felt his heart stop. His feet started the desperate run towards Riza without a second thought. But he hadn't even taken two steps before he realized that Riza hadn't been shot, the noise hadn't come from David's gun. When he looked at David, he saw that his gun had dropped to the ground and his shirt was starting to turn red. For a second Roy wondered what the hell was going on, but then Ed jumped out of the darkness and pushed David to the ground. Roy had totally forgotten that Ed even existed, but now he was happier than ever to see him. David was finally down. It was finally over.<p>

David made some empty threats, but Roy wasn't listening. Now that David was out of the game, the only one he could think of was Riza. He ran to her side, and knelt down to her level. Hayate was already there. As the shot had been fired, Fuery had let go of his leash. The dog had run to his master, he didn't care about shots and noises. His job was to protect his master, and it was the only thought in his head. Now Hayate was whining and licking Riza's face. But Riza's eyes were still shut.

Carefully Roy lifted Riza up in to his arms; he didn't want to cause her any more pain. She seemed so fragile in his arms. "Lieutenant, open your eyes! You will not give up now!" Roy said desperately. He needed her to open her eyes, he needed her to survive. This was all his fault.

Finally, Riza slowly opened her brown eyes and met his black ones. For a moment she looked confused about how she ended up in his arms. "I thought they shot me again..." Riza mumbled, her voice was so weak it could barely be heard. Roy sighed from relief. She was still hanging on.

"There is no way I would let that happen again. You're save now," Roy said, trying to convince her that it was over. But he could hear his own voice trembling. For a second he had feared the same thing. For a second he thought he had lost her.

"General, you shouldn't have come to save me, you risked way too much..." Riza said, her voice getting a little stronger. Roy smiled. Nobody but Riza could say something like that when she had just been saved. She always thought about everyone else before herself.

"Lieutenant, you must know by now that there is nothing I wouldn't risk for you," Roy said quietly so that only she could hear him. Riza smiled a little, but then her eyes started to close once again. Roy could feel panic attack him. He sure as hell wasn't going to let her die now.

"Lieutenant, stay with us a little longer! Soon you will get some help!" Roy begged. Riza widened her eyes, and looked deep into his eyes. "Don't worry General. Don't you remember? I promised once that I wouldn't die," Riza said and after that she seemed to do her best to not close her eyes. Roy could see that she was fighting. There was no time to waste.

"Breda, go get the car! Fullmetal, do you know any doctor close by?" Roy said, and turned his head towards Ed. He had knelt close to him, looking at Riza worriedly. "The closest one I know is in Resembool. I doubt that there are any other doctors around here or at least anyone who would want to help us," Ed said. It was exactly what Roy had feared. Two hours was a long time. Roy could only hope that it wasn't too long.

Roy looked at Riza, who seemed to shiver in his hands. Carefully he touched her forehead and could feel the burn inside her. His heart skipped a beat. Infections were never a good sign. Her shoulder was all bloody, but it seemed to have a new bandage around it. Maybe they had needed to keep her alive, but they hadn't done very good job. She was just barely hanging on. And her leg was visibly broken, a massive bruise around it. "Fullmetal, could you find something to support Hawkeye's leg? We must do our best before we can get to the doctor," Roy said. Ed nodded seriously.

In the mean time, Fuery and Havoc had found the man from David's car, which was only logical since David had stepped out from the passenger's side of the car. He had been knocked unconscious by the crash; his head had hit the wheel hard and was bleeding. Havoc and Fuery dragged the man out of the car, tied him and put him next to an unconscious Campbell.

Ed brought Roy a piece of wood to support Hawkeye's leg on. Then he told Havoc and Fuery to go and get the other two men involved and make sure they didn't have the chance to escape. They were surprised to find out about the alchemist, but they had no time to find out what had happened. There would be time later, but now Riza was the most important thing.

After Havoc and Fuery had left, Ed helped Roy to support Hawkeye's leg. They used the wood and some clothes to tie her leg. Riza bitted her teeth when they had moved her leg to its right position, and she had almost passed out. But she was a fighter. Now that she had a reason to fight, she wasn't going to give up.

Finally, Breda arrived with the car. Roy lifted Riza into the backseat of the car carefully so that he wouldn't cause her any more pain than was necessary. Black Hayate didn't want to leave his master now that he had finally found her. He jumped into the front seat of the car and didn't move his eyes from his master.

"Havoc, Fuery, you must stay here and take care of these men. Make sure that we caught them all. Try to find a phone and call headquarters, explain to them the situation. They will send you some backup. We will call the Military after we get to Resembool and make sure that you have gotten help," Roy said to his men. He counted on them to deal with the situation. "Yes, sir! Take care of Lieutenant!" Havoc said and Fuery nodded to agree with his statement. Roy nodded, even if it was not needed to be said. He would do anything for Riza.

Roy went to backseat of the car, and carefully lifted Riza's head on to his lap. He wanted to make sure she was as comfortable as possible. Ed climbed into the front seat, sharing it with Hayate. He looked at the backseat and watched how Roy held Riza in his lap. Riza was barely hanging on and he saw the desperation in Roy's eyes. Every minute was important now. Breda started the engine and finally the mine was left behind.

The way back to Resembool seemed to take forever. Breda was driving as fast as he could, but still the distance didn't seem to get any shorter. They were the longest two hours of Roy's life. He spent his minutes watching how Riza's eyes closed and opened as she fought against the need to sleep. He carefully stroked her blond hair, trying not to think about the clumps of blood in her beautiful, shoulder length hair. It felt bad to see her like this. She was weaker than he had ever seen her.

When they had cut her neck open, she had been able to fight again just hours after he had thought she would have died in his arms. But now there weren't any alchemists that knew how to heal her. There was not even a doctor. "Just a little longer," Roy muttered to Riza for what seemed like a thousandth time. There was nothing else he could do.

Just as they reached Resembool, Riza closed her eyes. Roy tried to wake her up, but she didn't respond to him anymore. Roy could feel the desperation fill his mind. "Damn it, Lieutenant! Ed, how much longer?" Roy yelled to the front seat. Ed looked worried too. "We'll be there in a minute," he said and they finally reached the doctor's house. Roy hoped it wasn't too late.

They rushed to Doctor Curley's house, knocking on the door violently. The doctor opened the door, looking like he had just gotten out of bed. Curley was quite an old man and was used to healing mostly fevers and delivering babies. It was quite shock to him to find an unconscious woman behind his door with a shot wound and a broken leg. But he hadn't forgotten about all what he had learned in his youth and lead them to his little surgery room.

Roy put Riza down to the bed, and Curley started to examine her. "And now I need you all out! I cannot work with all you around me!" the doctor yelled. Roy was holding Riza's hand, refusing to let her out of his sight. Roy was looking the doctor like he would kill him if he hurt Riza.

Ed put his hand on Roy's shoulder. "Mustang, we can wait in the reception. If you want Riza to survive from this, you need to let the doctor have some space," Ed said, trying to get Roy to let Riza's hand go. Roy sighed as he heard Ed's words; he knew they were true even though he didn't want to leave Riza. He squeezed Riza's hand a little tighter and muttered quietly: "Remember what you promised to me Riza. You have to fight." He was certain that she would hear him even when she was unconscious. She had to survive, she had made a promise. Slowly Roy let go of his grip around Riza's hand and Ed led him out of the room. All that was left now was waiting.


	20. Wait

I really can't believe this story is slowly reaching the end. Still four chapters and epilogue left after this, but still... My long project is finally almost ready. Feels very weird. :D But now back to the story, enjoy! :) And please leave a review, I just love to read them! :)

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><p>Ed stared at Roy. He was sitting in the reception's chair and had buried his face in his hands. He hadn't moved an inch in hours. Ed didn't remember the last time he had seen Mustang so devastated. The waiting was killing him. Just behind the door Riza was fighting for her life and there was nothing they could do to help her. All they could do was to wait and hope.<p>

It had been two hours since the doctor had driven them away so he could start healing Riza. Breda had called Headquarters after they had arrived and started to arrange things. It was clear that Mustang wasn't up for the task. All that mattered to him now was Riza.

After a while Ed had called to Winry to let her know what had happened. He had explained things only briefly; there would be a better time to tell details later. Ed hadn't even mentioned the part of him attacking the men on his own, she didn't have to know how he had risked his life. There were already enough things for her to worry.

Winry had wanted to come to the doctor's house right away; she wanted to be there for Riza. But there was a man she needed to guard and she was forced to stay. Ed promised to let her know how things where developing as soon as they would hear something about Riza's condition.

Finally the doctor came out of the room. His shirt still had red stains from Riza's blood. Roy lifted his head out of his hands as soon as he heard the door being opened. He looked at the doctor with piercing eyes, trying to read Riza's condition from his face. Roy was just starting to open his mouth, but the doctor answered him before he even had time to ask. "I'm afraid I don't have very good news. I cleaned her wound and bandaged it again, and I supported her leg properly. But she has lost a lot of blood and she is in weak condition. The main problem is the fever. I gave her some antibiotics, but there is not much else I can do about it. It's up to her now, she has to fight. If the fever doesn't come down in the next twenty four hours, I'm afraid there might be a chance we might lose her."

Roy seemed to take in the information. He just stared in front of him, trying to understand. There was a long silence before Roy finally spoke. "She's a fighter," Roy said quietly, more to himself than the others. Ed knew he was right. Riza would survive. She always had. Ed didn't even want to think how Roy would react if Hawkeye wouldn't made it.

"Can I see her?" Roy asked. The doctor looked like he wanted to say no. Riza needed the sleep and she shouldn't be stressed. But the doctor also saw how important Riza was to Roy, and knew that denying Roy to go into the room would probably just cause more trouble. "I won't stop you if you want to see her, but I need you to be quiet and not try to wake her. She needs sleep. I would also suggest that you would go and have some sleep too. You look like you haven't slept in a while either. There is nothing you can do for her now," Doctor Curley said, already knowing that Roy wouldn't listen his advice.

Roy got up from his chair and went into the room without saying another word. Ed sighed as he went. There was no way that Roy would leave Riza alone. "Hopefully him being there helps. I have met many patients that seemed to recover more quickly when they have their loved ones near," Curley said looking at the closed door. Ed nodded. "But that man really needs some sleep too. It seems you all have been through a lot." Ed couldn't say it better himself. All of them needed some sleep, but how could they sleep knowing that Hawkeye could slip away at any second?

The day started to change to night when Winry came. She had gotten her neighbor to watch over the prisoner and the military was also coming at some time of the night. Ed hugged Winry tightly when she came, she seemed very upset. Ed was glad that she was here. It was nice change to have someone around he could talk to. Breda had not been good company; he was on and off the phone, arranging things. Hayate seemed also depressed as he laid at Ed's feet. He wanted to be with his master, but the doctor had drawn the line and hadn't let the dog in.

"How is she?" Winry asked, worriedly. "Hanging in there. There is nothing new about the situation. We just have to wait. The doctor said that if she makes through the night she will probably survive," Ed said quietly. Winry nodded. "And what about Mustang?" Winry asked as she noticed he wasn't there with others. "He is sitting by Hawkeye and refuses to leave her alone. He won't sleep," said Ed sadly. He had offered to Mustang to look after Riza if he wanted to go and sleep, but he hadn't listened. He just stared at Riza, holding her hand tightly in his. There was no way anyone could move him from his place.

"Can I see Riza?" Winry asked carefully. She knew enough from healing to know that Riza needed the sleep. But she also wanted to see her, to make sure she was still there. "Doctor Curley said it's okay, but that there shouldn't be many people around her for a long time. He said that her immune system is quite low now, and it shouldn't be tested too hard," Ed explained. There was a clear reason why the doctor had thought twice before letting Roy stay at Riza's side. But Ed knew that Winry needed to see Riza, even if it would only be for a second.

Ed led Winry to Hawkeye's room. Riza was lying on the bed, looking like she was just sleeping when Ed looked at her. But as they moved closer, it was clear she wasn't okay. Her face was pale and sweaty and sometimes she tossed around in her high fever. But it wasn't really Riza's appearance that betrayed the dangerous situation. The seriousness was most visible in Roy's worried eyes as he watched her every move. He was worried sick that her every breath could be her last.

It hurt Ed to see Roy so messed up. He looked like he didn't even see the rest of the world. Ed didn't know what to say to him. It felt wrong to say that all would be okay when it might end up badly. Luckily, Winry was there. She knew how to act in situations like these.

Winry walked closer to Roy, who just now seemed to notice he wasn't alone with Hawkeye anymore. She sat next to Roy in an empty chair and put her hand on his shoulder. Roy looked at her for a moment with his empty eyes, but then he moved his eyes to Riza once again. "Is there any change?" Winry asked quietly, trying to make some conversation. Roy just shook his head. There was another moment of silence as they all looked at Riza. Then Roy finally started to speak.

"She had her eyes open the whole way here. Then when we were finally here, when she finally got some help... She closed her eyes. I just won't believe that she could give up now. We fought all this way so far... I can't lose her now," Roy said quietly. Ed looked at him sadly. Even the great flame alchemist had his weakness. And as he looked at Roy, a single teardrop rolled down his cheek. Ed swallowed. Riza had to survive. He didn't want to think what would happen to Roy if she didn't. The single tear on his cheek was too much for Ed to handle already. "Please let her survive through the night," Ed thought in his head.


	21. Healing

OVER 100 reviews! :D I would have never believed that I would ever get so many... THANK YOU! :) You made me really, really, really happy! :) Here is the next chapter, things are finally starting to clear up! :)

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><p>Riza woke up. She felt warm sun on her face and the soft blankets around her. Her body felt heavy against the mattress. She felt pain, but somehow it felt good. It meant that she was alive; she had survived. Riza opened her eyes slowly and was blinded for a second by the bright sunlight. She smiled. It felt good to be alive. It felt good to feel some warmness and see some light after what had felt like a long cold night.<p>

When she finally saw something, she realized she was in a small room. The walls were plain white and all seemed somehow too clean. She had to be in a hospital, it would made sense. But how had she ended up there? She didn't remember much. Her mind had been confused by pain and fever, all she remembered were flashes; she had been held captive for so many days, she had been shot and had her tattoo seen. But then she remembered Roy's voice. Roy's hands around her, his voice begging her to hang in there for a little longer. Once again he had saved her life. If she wasn't careful, he might get even with her.

Then Riza noticed that Roy was there, asleep in an armchair next to her bed. He had dark circles under his eyes and even though he was asleep, he looked worried. Riza couldn't help but wonder how long he had been there. Knowing him, probably the whole time she had been sleeping. Riza smiled. She hadn't believed that she would ever see him again. But there he was, next to her and all their dreams were possible once more.

Roy shivered and opened his eyes. It was like he had known that she had woken up. Roy met her eyes and smiled. Riza returned his smile; they had all the reason to smile. They were alive. They had each other. "Time for you to wake up, General!" Riza said teasing Roy. He answered her teasing with a wide grin. "I have waited for my Lieutenant to wake up for three days and you dare to tease me for closing my eyes for a second!" Roy said acting like he was offended. But the words he had said ruined Riza's good mood.

"Three days? Have I really slept that long?" Riza asked, more serious. Roy's grin disappeared too. "Yes. But you had a high fever and that gunshot wound and that broken leg of yours really needed some time to heal. You look a lot better now," Roy said and took her hand into his. Riza's heart skipped a beat with that touch. Roy really was there and his skin felt smooth against hers. Riza collected herself and nodded to answer. She did feel better.

"I can't say same about you. You look like you haven't slept in a while," Riza said worried. She knew already that she was the reason that had kept him awake. "Don't worry about me. I will sleep better now that I know that you're better. You had me worried for a moment, Lieutenant!" Roy said, trying to keep a light tone in his voice. But Riza saw fear in his eyes and knew that she had been close to death.

"How did you know I was alive?" Riza asked. Her head was quite a mess and she needed to have some clearness. She wanted to keep the conversation away from the fact that she had almost died. "A train accident. I knew something like that wouldn't kill my loyal subordinate. Black Hayate helped us to find the first clue. He smelled your scent from outside the train and after, we found out that the letter you gotten from Winry and Ed wasn't really from them. We were sure someone had planned your kidnap," Roy explained with a little smile.

"So they had planned it from the start. I should have called Ed and Winry before I left. Maybe none of this wouldn't have happened if I had. I caused you so much trouble. I heard they even tried to kill you," Riza said, her eyes looking at Roy and apologizing. "You couldn't have known. They had planned all well. And don't worry about the murder attempt; it was quite badly planned. They must have acted in the spur of moment and it helped us to find you when we saw the linkage between your kidnappers and the mine," Roy said and squeezed Riza's hand. He wanted to make sure she didn't blame herself for all of this.

There was a moment of silence as Riza thought about Roy's words. Roy took the chance and asked a question that had been on his mind in the passing days: "I have a one question for you too. How did you get all those wounds? It didn't really look like they wanted to kill you." Roy didn't understand why the men had shot her in her shoulder and then healed it. It made no sense.

It was Riza's time to smile. "Do you really think I wouldn't put up a fight against what they were trying to do to me? I attempted to flee and almost got out of there, but the bullet stopped me and after they caught me, they made sure that I wasn't going to do that again." Roy grinned. Of course she had tried to do something like that. It maybe hadn't been wise, but it was so much like Riza.

"Why aren't you at work? You should be taking care of the country. You're going to be Fuhrer soon!" Riza said trying to change the subject to something lighter. Roy smiled. Work, of course she always thought of that. "I'm having a little free time to make sure my Lieutenant is going to be fine. The Fuhrer himself wanted me to take care of you!" Roy said. The Fuhrer had called him a couple of days earlier. He had also asked Riza and Roy to visit him when they would get back to Central. It seemed still a little odd that he had made such a request, but Roy didn't really care. He was just happy he hadn't made him come back just yet.

"That sounds like the Fuhrer. But still, you shouldn't waste your time here," Riza said, and yawned. She was still feeling a little tired. "You're not a waste of time. You shouldn't worry about anything, just focus on getting better. I will be right here," Roy said smiling. Riza smiled back and closed her yes.

Riza didn't want to stay in bed for long. Just a day after she had woken up, she insisted to go out. She was tired of being inside. After a while, Doctor Curley cave in and gave her crutches to walk with. She made short walks with Roy and Hayate, but mostly she and Roy were sitting outside watching how Hayate ran around. Riza's strength didn't allow her to walk too much and the wound from the shot in her shoulder made using crutches a little more difficult than it usually was. It would be a long time before she would be totally healed.

They talked a lot about what had happened. Everything had started to click together. Campbell and his men had planned it all from the beginning: the letter and the accident. And when Riza told her side of the story, they found out that Bob had been the one Roy had caught outside the warehouse before the car had came. The silent guard Riza had hit while escaping was the same who had tried to kill Roy and who they had took as their prisoner. Mark had been the one found unconscious in the car.

And when it came to the alchemist who had drawn Riza's tattoo and tried to kill Mustang, it seemed he had been forced to do so. After he had woken up, he had told them that David had threatened that he would lose his job, and when that hadn't done the trick, he had threatened him with his family. Ed had told them that the man had looked quite unwilling when drawing the transmutation circle and it seemed to fit his story. But no matter how he had been forced to do so, it was still wrong and he needed to be convicted.

The hardest part for Roy was to tell Riza about the man he had burned. He was afraid that Riza might never forgive him for doing it. Riza listened carefully to every word Roy said. She didn't really approve of his actions, but it was too late to do anything about it. It had been done and nothing would change that. They had killed many people in missions; it was something that couldn't be avoided. And that man had tried to kill Mustang.

"I know that you would have shot me right on the spot if you had seen me. It was like Envy all over again," Roy said quietly. It was hard to confess to Riza that he still hadn't learned to control his emotions. "There's no point in thinking about that. It's over. I do wish he could have been judged but he was guilty. If somebody had told me the same things about you and threatened me, I might have shot a bullet to shut that person up. From your description, I can say that he was the man holding me down when they crushed my leg. He would have been in prison for a long time," Riza said, trying to comfort him. They didn't talk about it anymore after that.

Havoc had called Roy from Central and had let him know how things were developing. Havoc, Fuery, and Breda had headed to Central before Riza had even woken up. There was a lot of work to be done to make things clear. David and his men had been arrested. It seemed that there was no one else involved that they hadn't already caught. Most of the mine workers had no idea what had been going on behind closed doors. To Roy's relief it seemed that most of the people of Ishval doomed David's actions. For a moment he had been worried that all the work he had done was going to vain.

But even as Roy and Riza spoke of the things that had happened, they avoided certain things. Riza didn't want to describe the pain or the desperation, or tell him that she had given up her will to live. Roy didn't tell her about his desperate need to find her alive or his outbursts when he had found out about the accident or when he had seen her picture in the newspaper. He also didn't tell her about his nightmares, not even when he realized that the night he had seen Riza in the pool of blood and begging to let her die was the same night that she had been shot.

But even when those things were left unsaid, they both kind of knew. It was so visible in their small gestures and glances how close they had come to losing each other, how much they cared for each other. Those words were not needed to be said. They were both still alive and it was enough for both of them. Other things didn't really matter.

They both knew that they loved each other and soon all the words that had been left unsaid could finally be spoken. Roy was sure that soon they could finally be together. But Riza's mind was confused. She didn't know what she wanted anymore. She wanted to protect him. It had been a horrible feeling to let others look after him, knowing that one bullet could have been his end. What if there would be more enemies, what if somebody would try to kill him again? How could she give up her position knowing that? Roy sat next to her, smiling peacefully, but Riza's mind didn't leave her alone.

After Riza had woken up, Riza and Roy had moved to the Rockbell's house. Ed and Winry were happy to have Riza and Roy as their guests and the week seemed to fly by quickly. Winry and Riza had started to plan Ed's and Winry's wedding, which was planned to take place next summer, just four months from now. Ed didn't really care about the wedding preparations. He just stated that he wanted to marry Winry and continue their life together. So most of the time he played card games with Roy and they both did their best to avoid taking any part of wedding planning.

But after a week, Riza was finally well enough to travel and Roy and Riza had to go back to Central. Ed and Winry came to train station to say goodbye. As the train was about to leave, Roy pulled Ed away from Riza and Winry. Ed was little confused about this odd behavior as he and Roy still had hate-love relationship. Roy stared at the ground and it seemed that what he was going to say was hard for him.

"I never had time to really thank you. Without you Hawkeye might be dead," Roy muttered and slowly raised his eyes from the ground. Ed grinned, he hadn't expected this. It was rare that Roy admitted something like that and it was even rarer to see such gratitude in his often so cold eyes. "Hawkeye is important to me too. I didn't give it a second thought. Of course I saved her while I had a chance," Ed said, feeling awkward. He wasn't used to hear thank you from Roy.

"I know, but still. I owe you a lot. You saved my reason to live. So thank you," Roy said. At some other time Ed might have teased Roy for admitting how he felt, but lately Ed seemed to run out of things to annoy Roy with. Ed was just happy that Roy and Riza had finally started to show their feelings.

Ed nodded and offered his hand as he didn't know what to say. Roy took it and they shook hands. Then they returned to Winry and Riza. The train was about to leave. "Remember to come to the wedding!" Winry said as Roy helped Riza into the train and Hayate jumped in after them. "We wouldn't miss it for any prize!" Roy said smiling, and Riza nodded to agree. And with that they closed the door and started their way back to central.


	22. Secret

Yes, there are still chapters, this is not the end :D After this there is still two more and epilogue. Thank you for the amazing reviews, you made me smile once again! :) But here is the next chapter, enjoy!

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><p>They arrived at Central in the afternoon. Riza was a little surprised to see how many people had come to welcome her back. Fuery, Havoc and Breda were there, but so were Armstrong and couple of other military man. Hayate was the first to jump out of the trai;, he hadn't enjoyed the train ride at all, but he had endured it because of Riza. Now Hayate barked happily to everyone, glad that they were finally home.<p>

"Lieutenant, good to see you're feeling better!" Fuery said as Roy helped Riza out of the train. Hawkeye smiled. "It would be even better if I didn't have to use these crutches. I feel so slow and clumsy!" she said and sighed. It felt odd for her to be depending on others so much, but Riza had to admit to herself that she kind of enjoyed how Roy helped her without her needing to ask for it, even if she wouldn't tell that to anyone.

"Lieutenant! I'm so happy to see you alive!" said Armstrong as he picked Riza up and hugged her with tears in his eyes. Riza felt really awkward and hoped that Armstrong wouldn't break any more bones. "Armstrong, put her down before you cause her more injuries!" said Roy, a little angrily. Armstrong put Riza down and wiped the tears out of his eyes. Riza sighed from relief.

"I should have never believed that Hawkeye was dead. I'm so sorry for that!" Armstrong said and looked apologetically at Roy. Riza was little surprised by those words, and wanted to ask what Armstrong meant by that,but Roy just shook his head when Riza looked at him curiously. "Don't worry about that. I should apologize as well for losing my temper."

Before Riza had time to ask about what the hell they were talking about, they were interrupted by one of the military men. "General Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye, the Fuhrer is waiting for you at Headquarters." Roy and Riza both nodded and they started to follow the man. In their minds though they couldn't help wondering about what the Fuhrer had to say to both of them. Of course there were lot of things Grumman needed to discuss with Roy, but why did he want to meet Riza too?

Finally they were at Fuhrer's office. Grumman welcomed them back and shook both of their hands. He looked at Riza for a long time, like thinking about all that she had gone through. "Sit down, we have lot of things to discuss," Grumman said and nodded towards two stools. Riza thankfully sat down. It took a lot of strength for her to walk even short distances.

"I'm glad to inform you that the men who held Hawkeye as a captive are all in prison and ready to be convicted. This seems to be the same group that tried to kill the General in Ishval, but you probably already knew that! Thankfully we have them all now and there will be no more attempts to kill you or Miss Hawkeye," Grumman explained happily. In the end, things had been pretty easy to solve.

"But I have some bad news too. Since it will take couple of months before the prisoners can be convicted, and as Mustang is part of all this, we have to delay the day when you will become Fuhrer. We want you to have a clean start," the Fuhrer said smiling, but then his smile vanished and he continued with more serious tone: "There is also the matter of the burned man..." The Fuhrer looked at Roy like he was scolding a mischievous child. But Roy knew it was more than that. He shouldn't have lost his temper like that; he would regret it for the rest of his life. He was going to be the Fuhrer and things like that shouldn't happen.

"Truthfully speaking, that's not really going to be a problem because of the circumstances, but I hope things like that won't happen anymore," the Fuhrer said and Roy nodded. He had learned his lesson. Nothing but Riza's safety could have made him act like that and from now on he would make sure nothing would risk her life again.

"We just want it so that all things are clear before you will take my place. But don't worry, this is just a delay," Grumman continued, looking straight at Roy. Roy just nodded; he had guessed that something like this would happen. He didn't want to wait, but it was small cost from all that had happened.

"Hawkeye, I have some news for you too. I'm glad to inform you that you are no longer dead and I sincerely apologize for the mistake. If it weren't for this stubborn General, nobody would have ever found you. I have rarely seen anybody rush in my office as outrageously as Mustang did when he found out about what had happened... But in the end he was right and had all the reason to do so," Grumman said grinning. He seemed to enjoy making Roy feel uncomfortable and ashamed of what he had done. Hawkeye looked at Roy with a little surprise, but couldn't help but smile. She could almost see the scene in her head.

"But I also have another thing I want to tell you Hawkeye. I thought that I would tell you this later, but what has happened made me see that I don't have all the time in the world. Who knows what life will throw us?" Grumman said, smiling sadly. Hawkeye looked at him confused. She had no idea about what Grumman was talking about.

But Grumman's words brought back a memory to Roy. He remembered the conversation he and Grumman had before he left to Resembool to look for Riza. He had been such a mess at the time that Grumman's words had never really sunk in. But now that all was over, he remembered the words and the shock finally hit him.

"Your mother was my daughter. After she got married, our relationship ended, since her husband and I never got along. I never even knew she had a daughter before she died and I saw you at the funeral. You were so small then and I tried to convince your father to let me help. But he was so stubborn, and didn't let me even tell you who I was, and denied my rights to see you. Years went by and I tried my best to forget that I ever even had a granddaughter. But then I heard about you joining the military... I thought that you were better off without knowing, and so I just watched after you from a distance," Grumman explained, as Riza just stared at him in shock.

Of course Riza had always wondered why she hadn't had any relatives from her mother's side. Truthfully speaking, she didn't know any of her relatives. Her father had been the only family she had known. Once she had asked about her relatives, but her father had told her to not ask the question ever again. She had given up, thinking that any relatives she might have were probably dead or had forgotten her anyway.

Before Roy had come to their house as an apprentice, she had often felt lonely. But she had learned to take care of herself as well as his father. Childhood had been short for her and now suddenly she had a grandfather? It felt odd. "I don't really know what to say..." Riza said quietly, confused about all this information.

Grumman smiled softly. "Don't worry. You have all the time you need. I just hope that after I have retired I could be a part of your life. Maybe come to your wedding someday, and take care of any children you might have," Grumman said with a grin and gave a meaningful look to both Roy and Riza. "In the end, Mustang will soon be the Fuhrer of this country. He won't need you to keep him safe when he has five bodyguards of his own."

Riza felt herself blushing. Roy shifted uncomfortably on his stool, shocked by how well Grumman saw through them. He remembered how Grumman had once asked him to marry his granddaughter. He had thought it as a joke at the time, but now... How did he know about their plans? Grumman never stopped to surprise him.


	23. Wedding

I reward you with quick update because you have left me so lovely reviews! :) I'm leaving to little road trip before my studies begin, so I'm not able to update in at least a week. Hopefully this chapter will keep you guys happy until then :D

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><p>It was a midsummer at its best; warm but not too hot and nature was in its greenest. Sun was shining from the bright blue sky and a cooling breeze waved grass. It seemed like the weather itself had wanted to give a wedding present.<p>

Ed and Winry had wanted to keep their wedding small and simple, but somehow the party had grown to a big event. There had been so many people they had wanted to invite. Neither of them had a big family, but they had made their own big family along the years. There were so many people who had helped them along tne years and had a special place in their hearts. It wasn't blood that connected them, but it was all that they had been through together.

In the end, there had been quite a mix of people in the wedding: military men, alchemists, people from Xing and so on. Al had come from Xing to celebrate his brother's wedding and had brought May with him. There seemed to be a growing romance between them, even if they didn't admit it just yet. Pinako was also there and many people from Resembool and Rush Valley. Gracia and Elicia had also come. Winry had made Elicia her flower girl. They had kept in touch over the years and Elicia was like little sister to Winry.

Mustang and Hawkeye had come like they had promised. Mustang wasn't the Fuhrer yet. The mess with Hawkeye's kidnappers had taken more time to clear up than they had been expecting. But now all that was behind them and just a week after this wedding Mustang would become the Fuhrer. Ed and Winry had promised to come there to see that, take a little detour with their honeymoon. Ed said that he wouldn't believe it if he couldn't see it with his own eyes. He also reminded Roy with a grin that he would borrow a little more money and pay him back when Amestris was a democracy.

Along with Mustang and Hawkeye had come the rest of Mustang's team; Havoc, Breda, Fuery and even Falman had came from the north. Armstrong had also come to the wedding. He had invited himself to the party before he had even got the invitation. He had just called Ed and Winry, congratulated them and informed that he would come happily to the wedding.

The wedding took place outside, in a green field near the Rockbell's house. It was a beautiful, short ceremony. Winry looked beautiful in her white long dress and Ed couldn't take his eyes of her. Roy could swear he was on the edge of tears. But Roy's eyes drifted from the beautiful bride to Riza, who was standing couple of feet behind Winry. Riza had on a beautiful dark blue, long, and sleeveless dress with high collar and her long hair was up in a bun. Her dress was quite simple, but it was perfect for her. She had finally gotten rid of those crutches and she looked happy. Roy could have stared at her smile for hours.

Finally Ed and Winry were announced as husband and wife and shared a soft kiss. Everyone cheered for them and Armstrong cried openly. "Oh, that was so beautiful!" he said loudly. Everyone avoided his company after that, especially Roy. He didn't want to get one of Armstrong's bone breaking hugs.

Everyone continued to party outside in a great white tent. The time seemed to fly by because of being in good company. Roy was happy to see Falman after a long time. He had liked it in the north and seemed to have found himself a woman. Havoc seemed a little bitter; he still hadn't found a more permanent girlfriend to himself. Havoc wondered if he should go to North to try his luck.

In the end there would be lot of changes happening soon. Roy would become Fuhrer and he didn't need so many people to work under him. Most of the time he would be working with high rank officers whom he couldn't choose himself or he would be having meetings with politicians from other countries. Roy had offered them all high up places in the Military where they would be in a close contact with him, but it wasn't the same. The Fuhrer's job seemed a little lonely to Roy. Some of his men had wondered if they should use the chance to relocate themselves. Fuery was planning on leaving to the west, where he could learn more about technology. Breda had planned to stay, but Havoc didn't really know what to do.

"What are you planning to do Hawkeye? Can you still be Mustang's adjutant?" Havoc asked curiously. Havoc, Fuery, Breda, and Falman looked at Hawkeye and Mustang with meaningful looks. None of them could imagine Mustang working without Hawkeye by his side, but they all kind of hoped that they would finally stand by each other's side outside of the military.

Hawkeye felt uncomfortable. Yes, she had dreamed of the day she could leave the military and finally be with Roy. But after all that had happened, she didn't really know if she could do it. Amestris wasn't a democracy yet, anything could happen. She would be happier if they both could leave the military at the same time, but there was so much to be done before that. They would be old before that could happen and they could say goodbye to the thoughts of a family. Riza looked at Roy, trying to find some help. Roy just smiled.

"I hope that Hawkeye will still be standing by my side in the future... and now if you will excuse me, I want to have a dance with my Lieutenant," Roy said smoothly and offered his hand to Riza. For a moment she hesitated, but finally she took his hand. She would have done anything to escape from the awkwardness of the table.

Lots of people were dancing in the middle of the tent, where there had been room left for that purpose. Ed was dancing with Winry and they seemed happy with the way their wedding had been going. But even if there were a lot of people in the dance floor, Riza still felt a little embarrassed. "I should warn you that I'm not a good dancer," Riza mumbled as she looked at the table where Mustang's men were sitting, staring at them with smiles and laughter.

"You're in luck. It's the man who leads the dance, if you just let me," Roy said with a grin as he put his hand on her hip and took her hand in the other. Riza blushed a little as she placed her free hand on his shoulder and they started to dance. They moved smoothly on the dance floor. Roy was better dancer than Riza had imagined. They had known each other for so long, but they had never shared a dance. The closeness felt good, like it was meant to be.

"You know, it's only a week left, and I will finally become the Fuhrer," Roy said quietly as they danced. Riza just nodded. She knew where the conversation was leading. Her heart started to beat faster. "Are you still keeping your promise?" he asked with soft voice, looking deep into her eyes. Riza looked back into his dark eyes and wanted to say yes with all her heart. But she was also afraid to do so. "I would like to say yes, but after all, I'm not sure if that is the right thing to do," Riza said, lowering her eyes. She could almost see how his eyes stopped shining.

"You're worried about my safety, aren't you?" Roy asked and she could hear from his voice that he was a bit hurt. Riza nodded slowly and lifted her eyes to meet his once again. "Riza, you know that there is always something that could happen. I could become ill. I could be run down by a car... There is always something. I haven't been this safe in all my live. I will be the head of the country and there are many men whose only job is just to keep me alive. If you're always scared of something, we will never get the chance to be happy. And I'd rather be happy for a short time than live alone for the rest of my life," Roy said without taking his eyes from hers. He needed to make her understand how much he needed her.

But Riza had already forgotten her fears at the moment as he had used her first name. It was first time that he had called her by her first name since they were just kids. She knew then that she wanted to hear him say that for the rest of her life. "Yes," she said with a soft smile. Roy looked a little confused at first, but then the smile came to his lips too. "But we will have to wait at week. I won't say yes to a man less than the Fuhrer," Riza said with a big smile on her face. Roy laughed. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."


	24. Fuhrer

Finally back from my trip, I had a wonderful holidays! :) Now I have continued my studies in University, so I have been really busy, but not too busy to publish one new chapter! :) Here is the last real chapter, story has finally reached it's end! But don't worry, there is still epilogue left! :D Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter, I loved to write it!

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><p>For more than ten years, Roy had reached for this day. Now he had finally made it. After all these years he was the Fuhrer. It seemed almost unbelievable after all the drawbacks that he had reached his goal. All week he had waited for something to happen that would have ruined his plans. But nothing had come, and now there he was, in a big hall in front of hundreds of people. Just seconds before, Grumman had announced his retirement and made Roy the next Fuhrer.<p>

Roy made his best effort to look serious, even thought he wanted to smile widely. His dream had come true, and it felt difficult not to show his happiness. Officially he thanked Grumman and gave a speech he had prepared weeks ago. As he spoke, he couldn't help but look at Riza, who was sitting in the front row, smiling as widely as he would have wanted to. There was also Ed and Winry and all of his men. Ed looked bored to death, but Roy didn't really care. Nothing would ruin his day.

After the speech, there seemed to be hundreds of people who wanted to congratulate and speak with him. Roy tried to look for Riza as he thanked all of the people who shook his hand and pretended to listen what they had to say to him. But all he really wanted was to speak with Riza.

Finally Riza, Ed, Winry and Mustang's men made their way over to congratulate him. "Fuhrer Mustang. It will take time to get use to that," Ed said grinning. "I'm happy that you have finally reached your goal! All your dreams are coming true!" Winry said, smiling widely as she looked from Roy to Riza. Mustang did his best to pretend he hadn't heard the hint in her voice.

"I want to thank you all for what you have done for me during these years. Without all of you, this wouldn't have been possible," Roy said, smiling a little as he looked to all of them. He really meant that. They all had helped him more than once to reach his goal. His men had fought beside him, loyally even when he hadn't followed military rules. And as much as he hated to admit it, he was in debt to Ed. He had saved him when revenge had tried to get the best of him. He had believed in him and most importantly, he had saved Riza. Roy looked at Riza, who smiled gently back. She was the main reason he was here now. He owed her everything.

But before Roy had time to say anything else, one of his new councilors reminded him of the next meeting. How much Roy would have hoped there had been more time to say to Riza all he would have wanted to say. "I'm sorry but I have a meeting I have to be in. Thank you all for coming. Hopefully we will see each other later," Roy said to the others, who nodded happily. Then on an impulse, he looked at Riza and said: "Lieutenant, I hope you have filled out the paper work." Riza blushed a little and smiled. "Yes, sir!" The others looked confused, only Winry looked like she had a hint of what they were speaking about. With that, Roy left, feeling happier by the minute. They were almost there. But first there were some obligations to be done.

It felt funny that even if he had waited for this day for so long, he couldn't help but hope that it would already be over. All he wanted to do was to speak with Riza, just be alone with her. In his pocket there was a small box Roy had bought yesterday. Inside was a simple gold ring, nothing fancy. Roy knew Riza too well to think that she would wear anything else. The whole day he played with the box, waiting for the moment he could show it to her.

Finally after sun had already set, the official dinner party was over and his duties as Fuhrer were done for the day. He had asked his new driver to take him to Riza's house, but it seemed he had to take two bodyguards with him. Roy thought that he would never get used to this loss of freedom, but agreed anyway. He didn't have time to argue. At least his promise to Riza seemed to be truthful; it seemed that he wasn't going anywhere alone anymore.

As the car drove nearer to Riza's house, Roy got more and more nervous. Everyone had always thought that he was a ladies' man and smooth with these kind of things, but Riza was different. She wasn't just some girl he had entertained just for fun, she was so much more. He wanted to make everything perfect for her. She had earned that.

"You will wait here," Roy said as they reached Hawkeye's building and he stepped out of the car. "But sir, our duty is to..." started one of the bodyguards, Nelson. He took his job seriously. "If you will follow me into that house, I will burn you to dust. You can wait outside the apartment, but you will not step in. I have the right to have that much privacy!" Roy said firmly. He had no intention of sharing the next moments with two bodyguards. He was nervous enough as it was.

Finally, Nelson and the other bodyguard, Lehninger, nodded and agreed to wait at the door. They saw that Mustang wasn't joking and they didn't want to test him. Roy breathed deeply and walked to Riza's building. Every step closer to her apartment's door made him more and more anxious. He had waited for this for so long and now the time had finally come. This just felt too good to be truth. Maybe Riza had changed her mind. He feared so much that something would ruin all this in the last moment. And then there was the door. Roy gathered himself together and knocked.

He could hear Hayate barking inside, and he heard steps moving towards the door. Why was his heart beating so hard? Then she opened the door. Her hair was down, it was now over her shoulders, and she was dressed casually in comfortable clothes. But to Roy, she looked more beautiful than ever. Maybe it was because for the first time, he was really allowed to look at her.

"Can I come in?" Roy asked, feeling uncomfortable as his bodyguards watched his every move. Riza nodded with a smile and let him in. Roy closed the door in front of his bodyguards and finally they were alone. Riza guided him to her little living room and they sat together to the sofa. Hayate welcomed Roy with a wagging tail and Roy scratched him for a while. He could feel how Riza looked at him.

"How was your first day as a Fuhrer?" Riza asked smiling. Roy looked at her, and thought he could watch her smile for the rest of his days. "Too busy for my liking, but I won't complain as I have waited for this day for so long," Roy said grinning. "So you gave your resignation?" Roy continued. "Yes, I gave it in this morning. But I have to admit I didn't really like people questioning why I did it. Ed especially seemed eager to know the reason," Riza said laughing a little. Roy could almost imagine the situation, and laughed at the thought.

They fell into the silent for a moment, uncertain what to do. They both had waited for this for so long, but still the old habits were there as they sat there formally. Roy felt his heart beat as he looked into Riza's eyes. He knew she felt exactly the same. Why was it so hard to say those words? He was the Fuhrer now. She had promised. Maybe it was just too hard to believe that this wasn't a dream.

Finally Roy breathed deeply and took Riza's hand into his own. She squeezed his hand in encouragement. It was that moment when reality hit him. She wanted him as badly as he did. She loved him as much as he loved her. And all he had to do was to ask and she would be his. There was nothing that could stop them now. All doubt and nervousness disappeared in that moment.

"I know we have both looked forward to this day for a long time. There might be some goals that still have to be reached, but I believe I can conquer them all with you. It's because of you that I have made it so far," Roy said quietly, looking deeply into Riza's eyes with a sad smile, full of emotion. Riza tried to say something, but Roy continued before she had time to say anything.

"I want to share my life with you. I want to wake up beside you every morning, watching you smile and hold you in my arms. I know I may not deserve it, but I need you. I need you more than anything. There have been so many times when I had almost lost you, and I know I couldn't live without you," Roy said and with the last word he stood up from the sofa and took the small box from his pocket. Then he knelt down in front of her. Riza smiled at him, her eyes shining. Deep in her heart she had hoped for this, but never had she let herself dream about it. And now Roy was kneeling in front of her, and Riza felt that her heart could burst with joy.

"Riza Hawkeye, you have watched my back over the years. Would you now stand by my side and be my wife?" Roy asked and opened the box. Riza gave a soft laugh and said with a big smile: "Do you really need to ask? I once promised you that I would follow you into hell and back. I haven't changed my mind. I love you." And with that Roy put the ring on Riza's finger and hugged her tightly. Finally she was his, after all these years. And with those words, the wall of formality was broken. Roy took Riza's face into his hands and gave her a soft kiss. He would never let her out of his arms again.


	25. Epilogue

So here it is, the last chapter, enjoy! I save my goodbyes to this story to the end! ;) _  
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><p><em>Eleven years later<em>

"Why wont you ever teach me flame alchemy?" asked a young man curiously. He was sweating from the effort to transform a rock's shape and he had done pretty good job. He hoped it was enough to make his sensei see his talent. All throughout his childhood he had dreamed about the ability to make flames from a spark. "You were once a state alchemist. I heard they called you the Flame Alchemist. My father told many stories of you and your amazing talent. Why won't you teach me how to use it now that I know the basics of alchemy?" the boy begged, hoping that his words would convince his teacher. His heart was beating fast from the excitement.

Roy was standing in the backyard of his house, looking at how the brown haired boy had practiced his skills with transmutation. He was starting to get really good, even though he wouldn't admit that to the boy. He still had a lot to learn. But he had developed his skills a lot in the last three months.

The boy's question surprised him a little as it had been years since somebody had called him the Flame Alchemist. He hadn't used his skills in a very long time. He had kept his promise and he hadn't regretted it. Maybe it wasn't the reason that had brought him so much happiness, but he had kept his promise anyway.

After Roy had become the Fuhrer, he had started to make Amestris a democracy. It had not been easy, and had taken more time than Roy had thought. First, most of the people had been against the idea because they didn't believe it would work. But as the years passed, he had convinced the people that it would be for their benefit. He wanted to make sure that there would never be a new King Bradley. He wanted to make things better. In the end, it had taken eight long years to make the change. And after that Roy had spent two more years in the military, making sure that things started to run smoothly.

But even if those ten years had been full of work for him, they were also the happiest years of his life. Roy and Riza had gotten married just three months after Roy had proposed to her. They hadn't wanted to waste any more time than had been necessary. They had waited for a long time.

Most of the people had been in shock when they had heard the news of their engagement. It was quite understandable to most people since Roy had always seemed to be a ladies' man and Riza seemed the kind of girl to whose career came first. But those close to them were just happy that they had finally seen what they had years ago. It was revealed that Mustang's old team even had made a bet years ago about when they would admit to their relationship. Breda was the lucky one who had guessed that it would be the day Roy would become the Fuhrer and was happy to collect all the money.

Roy would always remember the day they got married. They had wanted a small wedding, but because Roy was the Fuhrer, it had grown to a great occasion. There were so many people he had to invite, even if he didn't want to. But even if the wedding wasn't exactly what they had wanted, it was still a day they would both remember forever. Finally they belonged to each other.

Riza had looked so beautiful in her white, long dress. The dress was turtle necked and sleeveless, with some lace as highlights. It was a simple dress and so much like her. Roy couldn't keep his eyes off of her the whole time. Those who had been surprised that they got married, were even more perplexed as they saw how Riza smiled widely the whole day and how Roy, who was surrounded by beautiful ladies, couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of his new wife. They couldn't help but wonder how they had missed something so obvious all of those years.

A couple of months after the wedding Riza had a surprise for Roy: She was pregnant. Roy had dreamed of family, but he also knew they weren't that young anymore. He was more than happy to have Riza by his side and it seemed too much to ask to have children too. That's why Riza's news made his heart fill with joy. After all they had gone through, all the happiness they had now overwhelmed him.

Eight months later Roy held a little baby in his arms. It felt amazing to hold such a miracle, such a small thing. Roy fell in love with the small girl instantly. And as he watched Riza holding their daughter, with such much love in her eyes, he felt his life complete. He could have stared at the two loves of his live forever.

But life had even more to offer for them. As the little girl, named Natalie, turned one, Riza was pregnant once more. But things didn't go as smoothly as the first time. A month before Riza's time was due, the labor began. When Roy rushed to the hospital, the doctor's didn't promise much. The labor was difficult and Riza had lost a lot of blood. For a second Roy thought he had asked for too much and would lose Riza and his unborn child.

Roy didn't remember ever being so relieved when the doctor came to say that Riza was going to make it, as well as the babies. He was so relieved, that he didn't even realize anything odd about what the doctor had said. But when he stepped in the room, a surprise waited for him: instead of one baby, Riza had given birth to twins. Two little boys in his arms, Roy couldn't help but wonder about the miracle of life.

Riza was so exhausted that she hadn't even noticed him. She slept deeply beside him. Roy kissed her gently and she woke up a little with that. "Thank you. For everything," Roy said quietly, wanting to tell her how happy she had made him, once again. He could feel his heart burst with joy. Riza smiled lovingly and fell asleep once again.

Two years after Amestris had become democracy, Roy had retired from the army. He was probably one of the youngest men to ever retire from the job of the Fuhrer, before he was even fifty. But he wanted to be with his family more now that he had finally accomplished what he had been reaching for, for such a long time. He didn't want to miss any more important steps of his children's lives. It was now up to others to continue what he had started.

After nine months he had realized that he needed something to do, he had way too much free time when his children were at school. Slowly, the decision formed in his mind and he took a young man as his apprentice to teach him some alchemy. That's how they got another family remember, Tod, who now eagerly asked him to teach him flame alchemy.

"I promised once to never use flame alchemy if I could save Riza, and I will keep that promise. Flame alchemy is too a great power for one man to handle. I learned that in a hard way. It can be used wrongly so easily. Also, my wife would probably kill me if I ever taught flame alchemy to you," Roy said seriously, but smiled towards the end. He hadn't thought about those times for a while, but it still pained him to think how close he had come to losing her. How close he had come to missing all he had now. Not using flame alchemy had been easy after all that. It had brought too much misery to him and Riza anyway.

Tod, who was sixteen, looked at him curiously. He had once heard the story of Riza's kidnapping, but never had he thought it was the reason why he had never seen Mustang use flame alchemy. He had thought that Mustang just didn't want to teach him flame alchemy yet, but now it seemed he never would. Tod couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. The reason he had wanted to come and learn from Mustang was partly because he had hoped he would learn flame alchemy from him.

They were interrupted by an enthusiastic scream of an eight years old boy. "Daddy!" the boy yelled as he ran out of the back door and towards his father. Roy was just fast enough to catch him in his arms. The boy laughed happily as Roy lifted him up in the air before he let the boy down. It never tired Roy to see his son smile. "Mommy said that dinner is almost ready and you should stop your practice," said the boy after Roy had let him down. "Thank you, Maes. We're quite ready. Maes, could you go and tell your mom that we'll be right there?" Roy said to the black haired boy. Maes nodded and ran back to the kitchen.

Roy never stopped to wonder how the twins had grown to be so different, but he loved them even more because of that. Maes had hair as black as he did, and also seemed to have gotten his spirits from him. He was almost as bad of a trickster as Roy had been in his youth. On the other hand his brother, Arbor, had blond hair like his mother and seemed to get his quiet nature with that. He loved to read and Roy was sure he was way too smart for his age.

Tod and Roy stopped the practice for the day and followed Maes inside. Riza was in the kitchen, finishing the dinner. The years had been good to her, the only signs of aging were the slight wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, but to Roy they were only signs of the happy years and made her look more beautiful than ever. Riza had kept her hair long ever since Ishval and after they had gotten married, she almost always kept it down too.

Natalie and Arbor were setting the table. Natalie had grown into a sweet little girl with long blond hair like her mother, but she was just as lively as her father. She had been a wonderful big sister, always looking after her two little brothers. Roy was happy that his children got along so well, they hardly ever had a fight.

Roy walked to kitchen and kissed his wife. Riza looked at him and noticed a strange sadness in his eyes. "Is something wrong?" Riza asked worried. Roy wondered how it was possible for her to always notice when he was feeling down. "Tod just asked me about flame alchemy and it brought back memories of the days when you were kidnapped," Roy said quietly. Riza smiled sadly. "It was years ago, and we both survived. You shouldn't worry about the past," she said, hoping to raise his spirit. "It just hit me how close I came to losing you. To losing all of this. If you had died, there wouldn't be Natalie, Maes or Arbor," Roy said, looking to their children who were now all gathered around the table and were laughing at some story Tod was telling them.

"I know. But somehow we made it through. Somehow we managed to finally have each other. Guess the world wanted us to be finally happy after all that happened. I never believed I would be this happy, that I could have so much. I thought I would never even get you," Riza said and smiled at her husband. "And this isn't going to stop anytime soon. You're stuck with me for years," she said with a laugh. Roy smiled at her. Maybe after all the pain they had deserved all this. It didn't help to think how close they had come to losing it all. They were happy, why should he worry? Roy gave his wife another kiss. "You're right," he said. And as he sat at the table to have dinner with his family, he couldn't help to think that he just might be the luckiest man in the world. It had been worth all the fighting to have just this one moment.

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><p>Author's note: So that was the end of the story! Hopefully you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I can't believe it's almost a year since I first got the idea to this story and started writing. A lot has happened during that year and sometimes writing this story has been a real life saviour, because when I write, I can forget all other things. I broke up with my long time boyfriend while writing this story and I really thought that I could never love anyone again. I didn't really believe in love anymore. It was times like these that Roy and Riza's story helped me to keep my spirit up. But now things are looking brighter, I have found new friends and I have also found someone who I really like, and maybe someday even love. Love is a mysterious thing, don't you think? :) I'm intending to write again, I have one one-shot waiting and one longer story, more fluffy than this one :D But the longer one may take time, I'm faster writer when I'm depressed, and now I'm really happy :) Hopefully you will keep reading my stories, your reviews always make me happy! :) I never thought that so many people would like my story, so THANK YOU! :)<p> 


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